Shutterbug's Cornucopia of Procrastination Fics
by Shutterbug5269
Summary: This will be my repository of one-shot's based on Tumblr gifs and other sources that strike my fancy. Basically when I need a break from my regular work the one shots I write will go here. Tentatively rated T but might go up to M if certain conditions occur.
1. Partners

_****Author's Note** This first one is based on a gifset on Tumblr by "Walking on Fire" AU: Castle and Beckett meet when Detective Castle transfers in from the LAPD and is assigned the desk across from his new partner Detective Beckett.  
**_

**Partners**

May 21st 2011

Richard Castle stepped off of the elevator, wearing a crisp suit, (his best one, the one he usually reserved for greeting VIP's) a messenger bag slung over one shoulder, and his Sig Sauer P-226 riding his hip in the quick draw holster as he stepped into the 12th Precinct for the very first time.

He had signed in at the front desk and been given a visor's pass so he knew he would be expected, he was not surprised when a female officer in her late forties whose name plate under her badge read _Velasquez_ approached him.

"You Detective Castle?" she asked in a no-nonsense manner, thus far she did not seem impressed.

Rick pulled his badge from his jacket pocket and opened it.

"Yeah, Richard Castle, LAPD Homicide." He said with a smile. He'd worked Hollywood division and he certainly knew how to make a first impression. It felt weird to him, however knowing it would likely be the last time he would ever say those precise words in that exact order ever again.

His warm friendly demeanor seemed to have the desired effect and put Officer Velasquez almost immediately at ease. There was a reason he'd been good at working murder cases in Hollywood, he knew how to talk to people.

"Captain Montgomery is expecting you," she offered with a smile, "right this way."

"I've heard good things about you, Detective Castle." Montgomery offered after shaking hands and exchanging the usual pleasantries, "I was actually surprised that the LAPD was willing to let go of somebody with your exemplary record."

For the first time since walking in the door of the 12th Castle frowned. "Death threats tend to re-arrange ones priorities." Castle replied. "I'm a single father and I have a daughter to think of."

"Yeah." Montgomery agreed, looking down at the photos of his own children spread across the front of his desk. "Not that I'm complaining, but why New York?"

"I have family here, my mother, to be exact." Castle replied, "Needed to be off the west coast as quickly as possible, best to have someplace to go."

"Indeed." Montgomery replied. Deciding to drop what he could already tell was a sensitive subject for his newest detective, he reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out an NYPD detective's shield along with a Glock 19 and a small stack of paperwork.

"You can keep the Glock." Castle stated up front, "I filed all the paperwork to keep my current sidearm, though I imagine I will still have to re-qualify before I hit the streets."

Montgomery returned the Glock to his desk drawer along with the paperwork for that, and received the signed and notarized forms Castle handed him. He then accepted the LAPD badge from Castle before rising to his feet.

"Raise your right hand and repeat after me." he stated, waiting for Castle to comply, which he did then quoted him the oath of office that every NYPD officer took when they first received their shield, to which Rick replied;

"I, Richard Alexander Castle, do solemnly swear to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and the Charter of the City of New York, and to faithfully discharge the duties as a police officer of the New York City Police Department to the best of my ability, so help me God."

When Castle was done speaking, Montgomery handed him the gold shield of an NYPD Detective first class.

"Welcome to the NYPD and the 12th Precinct, Detective Castle." Montgomery said almost solemnly, before clapping him on the back and leading him out into the squad room and pointing out an empty desk. "I'm pairing you up with Detective Beckett, she's finishing up with an interrogation and will be out soon, have a seat, make yourself comfortable and get started on your entrance paperwork."

"Detective Beckett?" Castle asked.

"Yes, she's your equal in rank, Castle, but make no mistake she is the one in charge of this team. She's the best homicide I ever trained."

"Fair enough." Castle replied, as his eye wandered over the family of ceramic elephants on her desk. He'd been in charge of his own homicide unit back in L.A., but was well aware that even though his rank had transferred over, he would have to prove himself here too. It would have been no different had his and Beckett's places been reversed. He could respect that.

When the Captain returned to his office, presumably to try to get in touch with Detective Beckett, Castle set about personalizing his work space. From his messenger bag, he produced a photo of his daughter Alexis, who had taken all of her exams early so she wouldn't have to deal with school until fall when she would be starting her freshman year at Marlowe Prep. Followed by a photo of the three of them taken in happier times at his mother's house in the Hampton's and the name bracelet Alexis had made him in the third grade.

He had no sooner finished filling out all of his NYPD transfer forms, insurance paperwork and logged into the system to reset his password and schedule himself for time in the shooting range for his pistol qualification when the most beautiful woman he had ever seen (and he had spent the last five years as a detective in Hollywood surrounded by models and starlets so that was saying something) sat down at the desk across from his, she did not look happy to see him.

Captain Montgomery appeared as if out of thin air.

"Kate Beckett, meet your new partner, Richard Castle. He just transferred here from LAPD Homicide."

"Welcome to the 12th," Kate grumbled with a smile that Castle could tell was not genuine as she reached across their desks to shake his hand before looking up at Montgomery, "Sir, can we speak privately?"

"Nope." Montgomery replied, "Beckett, I know you didn't want a partner, especially after the way your last one worked out, but this comes straight from the Chief of D's office. Detective Castle's closure rate is almost as good as yours but due to uncontrollable, unforeseen circumstances he had to vacate California, and we are lucky to have him. But regardless of what the brass wants, this is my house and I want him paired with my best.

"Yes sir." Kate replied, before she eyes the photos on Castle's desk.

After the captain left Castle looked her in the eye before speaking, something very few of her other male partners had ever done before, nearly every one had to be coaxed up to meet her eyes instead of her open collar or the curves pushing against her sweater.

"I don't mean to be a bother, Beckett." He said simply. "I didn't exactly leave California by choice."

Kate felt more than a little guilty for making him feel unwelcome, she'd heard the scuttlebutt in the break room about the new detective from the LAPD. How he and his family had received death threats after one of his cases had gone south and attempt had already been made on his daughter. He had enough bullshit to deal with already. If somebody had made an attempt on her dad she didn't know what she'd do. This time she offered him a softer, more genuine smile.

"It's not your fault, Castle," she offered, "my last partner was a jerk."

It would be a while before she went into detail about how Tom Demming had basically treated her like a piece of meat simply because they had found some mutual attraction after a sparring match early on in their partnership and foolishly acted on it later at his place. It had been fun for a day or two, but then he'd thought that their "friends with benefits" arrangement had given him the right to take certain... _liberties_ with where he put his hands at work, even after she'd broken it off.

She'd rebuffed him every time, but couldn't prove he'd done anything. Even after she'd come close to breaking two of his fingers. After nearly a month of harassment, Captain Montgomery had witnessed the last one and sent Demming packing off to Robbery Division with a grade reduction for conduct unbecoming and an admonition never to show his face in his house again. It was the best he could have done without dragging her reputation through the mud in the process. Ryan and Esposito had tuned Demming up in the parking lot an hour later, nobody had seen a thing then either. Demming certainly got the message.

She wasn't about to go into that much detail about that until she got to know Castle a little better, but it was obvious that Montgomery thought he could be trusted, or he would not have put him in the same building with her, much less pair them up, so she would give the man a chance. She owed Roy that much trust for always looking out for her.

Her reverie was quickly broken by the phone on her desk and she was all business when she answered.

"Beckett..."

When she hung up, she rose to her feet in her four-inch heeled biker boots and reached for her coat.

"We've got a murder at Fifth and Lex." she stated at his questioning look on her way to the elevator, before stopping to turn around,

"You coming Castle?"

"Always." Castle replied, dumping his messenger bag in his bottom desk drawer, reaching for his own jacket and sliding the still unfamiliar badge onto his belt. He wasn't sure what he'd just done right, but he was willing to roll with it.

If Kate Beckett was half the Detective he had heard about when he'd requested the 12th Precinct, they were going to do amazing things together. He wished he'd known somebody half as interesting when he'd tried his hand at writing, from what he'd seen so far, she was... extraordinary.

This was gonna be one hell of a partnership.


	2. The Gift

**The Gift**

_Sleep my child and peace attend thee,  
All through the night  
Guardian angels God will send thee,  
All through the night  
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,  
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping  
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,  
All through the night _

All Through the Night: Traditional Welsh/Irish lullaby

Johanna Lee Castle slipped quietly into the world on December 18th 2015 a full month early.

Kate had been on desk duty, but she'd been grabbed by a suspect in a last-ditch bid for escape when she'd been waiting by the elevator to go home. Not one to be taken without a fight, Kate had sprung into action almost without thought and took the guy down with a well-placed kick to the kneecap, but shortly afterward she began bleeding and had been rushed to Presbyterian hospital and gave birth via emergency C-section an hour later with her husband Richard Castle fretting for her the entire time.

Though she had come into the world weighing barely five pounds, both mother and child were deemed to be healthy, which filled both Rick and Kate with great relief. Kate had been discharged an hour later, but they had needed to keep little Johanna for a few days for observation.

Kate was a wreck after giving birth. Wracked with guilt that she had hurt her baby by grappling with the suspect, rather than letting the other cops in the precinct talk him down and it had taken every ounce of persuasion Rick had to get her to come home with him the next morning to take care of herself.

Only his solemn word of honor that they would be back as soon as she got some sleep and something to eat along with a promise from Lanie and Alexis to stay and keep an eye on the baby did Kate finally relent. True to his word, Rick brought Kate back every day to hold her and check on her progress.

It wasn't until Christmas Eve that little Johanna was finally released to go home with them. She was so tiny that she looked like a doll in Kate's hands, barely making a sound, not even a cry when she fussed to be fed. But she was finally home, cradled safely in her mother's arms where she belonged.

The presents under the tree sat forgotten until nearly noon, so completely was everyone in the Castle family smitten with their newest arrival. Bright green eyes regarded the world when they were open beneath even brighter terra cotta hair. Rick could not help but compare her to Alexis as a baby, making his older daughter blush as she bonded with her baby sister, only the second person whom Kate had willingly handed Johanna off to since they'd come home.

Their little Christmas miracle.

Best. Christmas. Ever.


	3. The Dawn Will Come

**The Dawn Will Come**

Alexis Castle sat alone in the hospital waiting room, cradling her baby sister with only two uniformed Police officers for company while she waited for updates on her father and Kate. They had both come in nearly blue from cold, and though the doctors had been able to get their core body temperatures back to within acceptable levels, neither of them had awakened.

Their doctor would not allow her to bring an infant into the ICU and there was no one around she felt comfortable leaving Johanna with under the circumstances, so a quick view of their adjoining beds from the doorway was all she had been able to get of them.

They had gone out dressed to the nines as the guests of honor for a New Year's Eve party thrown by Mayor Weldon. "Uncle Rob" was still trying trying to get back in their good graces after the whole _"banning him from the precinct" _thing the previous year. He'd bowed to political pressure from the District Attorney who had clearly had an ax of her own to grind. It had been almost pathetic to watch really.

When they hadn't come back the next morning a search for them had begun. Kate never missed a night feeding no matter how neck-deep in a case she got. In spite of her insecurities early on, Kate had turned out to be twice the mother her own had been, nothing kept her from her child.

Their town car had been found earlier this evening, half submerged in one of the ponds in a secluded section of Central Park. Their driver was dead with a gunshot wound in the forehead and they'd been handcuffed together to the back seat of the car soaking wet and left to die. It was only by a twist of fate that the car hadn't rolled all the way in. After hitting the water, a rock barely the size of her hand had stopped the submerged front wheel.

The doctors had done everything that could be done. When Doctor Anderson had come out, he'd said that they'd done all they could over the last few hours to get their core body temperatures back up. The rest would be up to them. Of course, with her smaller, leaner frame they were more concerned about Kate than dad, but he'd given up a lot of body heat in the vain attempt to keep her warm. They would keep them under careful observation, then wait and see what the morning brought.

Johanna began to fuss as she roused from sleep, then began to cry.

Alexis was close to tears herself as she coiled up with her infant sister on the comfortable couch of the ICU waiting room, close to tears herself as she rocked the baby in her arms, trying everything she could to soothe her. She hummed a tune that seemed vaguely familiar... from a video game her dad had become obsessed with during the time he'd been banned from the precinct last year. It was stupid... from a game she had only played once or twice with her dad to keep him company so he wouldn't drive himself to distraction waiting for the phone to ring and praying it wouldn't while he couldn't be out there with Kate to make sure she came home to their family every night.

Any thought of nursery rhymes had abandoned Alexis, but the words to this song spoke to her tonight of all nights as she began to sing softly while rocking her baby sister in her arms.

"_Shadows fall, and hope has fled  
Steel your heart, the dawn will come  
The night is long, and the path is dark  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come"  
_

Kate's phone had still been in her hand, her whole body seemingly curled around it when they'd been found. In a city the size of New York, how had there been no signal? The one, half minute call they had gotten out had been barely been long enough for Tory to narrow down a search grid. Upon forensic examination, the last thing viewed on it had been a video of her holding Johanna, making her laugh for the camera while dad had cooed at her from off screen. Dad had sent it to her on her first day back from maternity leave to bolster her spirits.

Alexis tried not to imagine what her dad and Kate must have been through, trapped in the car, slowly freezing to death. Neither of them knowing if they would live to see her or Johanna again. Waiting for help that almost hadn't come in time, while Alexis had been in their nice warm house, angry that they hadn't called to say they'd gotten a hotel or something.

_"The shepherd's lost, and his home is far  
Keep to the stars, the dawn will come  
The night is long, and the path is dark  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come"  
_

She thought about all of the times the two of them had been in danger in the past. Then her thoughts strayed to Ryan and Esposito who were out there in the black of night searching for the hired assassin who had tried to kill them. She hoped he chose not to be taken alive, that he died in a hail of gunfire.

_"Bare your blade, and raise it high  
Stand your ground, the dawn will come  
The night is long, and the path is dark  
Look to the sky, for one day soon  
The dawn will come" _

She knew the doctor would be in to see her soon. He'd said their prognosis was fair, that they only needed to give them time to wake up. The night was long and dark now, but soon the dawn would come.

It had to.

_****Author's note** I had originally written this on Christmas eve, but I thought it was far too dark right before Christmas, not to mention the whole "Belly of the Beast" scenario I'd originally had in mind was a bit too contrived. But a Bracken vengeance attempt? That seemed like a better story in the light of day. **_

_**Yes, I admit it, I am playing Dragon Age: Inquisition and wanted to use that song in a fic. Blame my nephew Zack, (whom I've been playing video games with since he was 4) he got me hooked on it. You guys have to deal with the fallout.**_

_**I'll try to make the next one a bit lighter, promise.**_

_**Mark**_


	4. Making Amends

**Making Amends**

_**Takes place in 7x11 between Gates kicking Rick out of the precinct and the scene in Rick's office**_

* * *

Kate Beckett sat at her desk staring at Rick's chair, feeling incredibly guilty.

She'd treated Rick abysmally lately...not to mention let other people do it, but he'd come through for her anyway, her partner in crime and in life, even though they both knew that she had violated his trust in a way she would not have tolerated had their positions been reversed.

She'd let Ryan and Esposito goad her into siding with them against Rick in a one-sided competition to solve their case before him. Even though she'd told Esposito from the beginning that Castle was only trying to feel close to her by using his newly acquired private investigator's license to carry out a parallel investigation.

But then Castle had seemed to be one step ahead of them at every turn. It got ugly after that.

* * *

At Ryan and Espo's insistence she'd tried to ply her husband with alcohol and seduce him to get at what he knew. Something he'd caught on to right away and even managed to turn the tables playfully on her. But he'd played along anyway, because he would never have believed she would leave him with nothing... the very thing she'd ended up doing to him.

They'd built theory...something they hadn't done in weeks...which predictably led them to the bedroom, but as soon as Rick's back was turned she'd betrayed his trust, given what he'd worked so hard to find to Ryan and left him with nothing to show for his efforts. They'd all felt pretty proud of themselves...at first, perfectly okay with treating the man she loved like a disposable resource, she'd even taunted him about their theory building being a _"one time thing"_ on her way out the door.

To add insult to injury, they had almost used what she'd learned from him to railroad an innocent man.

* * *

Even though she had abused his trust and violated the spirit of their wedding vows, he'd come to the precinct of his own free will to prevent her from carrying out a gross miscarriage of justice. Providing not just irrefutable evidence they had the wrong man, but purring them on the right track to find the actual killer.

Even though he'd broken the case wide open, he didn't gloat, or call them out on it. Not once did he throw what she'd done in her face, nor make even a passing reference to the shameful way she'd soiled the beautiful thing they'd done last night.

Kate had no doubt in her mind now that everything he'd found would have been hers for the asking if she'd been honest with him and treated him with the respect she knew he deserved. This wasn't DC, she wasn't dealing with top secret government matters requiring a security clearance anymore. Not even the Mayor of New York could lawfully order her not to talk to her own husband about her workday.

Gates knew full well if she tried, her shield and gun would be on her desk before the words were fully out of her mouth.

From the beginning, Rick only wanted to feel like he'd been helping her find the story that made the evidence make sense... and she'd cheapened it for no other reason than the boys were afraid he'd show them up. The great Detective Kate Beckett had to prove that she didn't need Rick to do her job. Had her vows at their wedding meant so little to her when his back was turned?

The look on Rick's face when Captain Gates had sent him packing not long ago had spoken volumes. That he'd felt used and brushed aside by the very people he thought he could trust was as plain as the nose on his face. There was only one way Kate could think of to even begin to make this whole sordid affair up to him. She knew he would likely go back to his new office to sulk without dragging Alexis and Martha into it, so she pulled some strings and made an appointment for him there.

Rick had worked so hard to make sure the real killer would be caught and punished, that justice would be done for the victim and those who loved her. It wasn't quite enough, but the very least she could do was let him be there when she slapped the cuffs on.

* * *

_****Author's note** 7x11 was a delightful romp, considering Rick had been banned from working cases, but there was just something about the way Kate treated Rick throughout that simply stuck in my craw. I think she kinda figured out what she was doing was wrong after Rick caught on to her obvious ploy with the wine that night in the loft, but it doesn't feel like it really hit her until after Gates sent him packing.**_

_**Rick let her off the hook because he loves her, but something tells me that Kate would not be so quick to forgive herself. Hence this post ep.**_


	5. Facing The Music

_****Author's note** This one off is a continuation of my short story, "Neighbors" You may want to read that one prior to reading this. For those who asked fervently for it, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.  
**_

* * *

**Facing the Music**

Though Kate had come to dinner most nights during her convalescent leave, and they had both felt a definite attraction almost from the beginning, they would talk about books and movies, many times finishing each other's sentences in their enthusiasm over a shared topic, but she would always pull back awkwardly at the last moment when it seemed like they might go somewhere. Rick could tell that whatever attraction she was feeling, and he could tell it was there, she was fighting it.

Not long after she had returned to active duty, Kate started coming to dinner less and less frequently, and eventually stopped altogether, letting both his and Alexis' calls go to voice mail without returning them as well. At first Rick had assumed her cases had been keeping her up at all hours, and he didn't want to pry. He recalled from his own childhood how little he had seen of his own mother when she was in a production after he had gotten old enough to look after himself.

It was like she had been going to some lengths to avoid them, though and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He was certain that he had overcome the negative image of him as a playboy that Gina and Paula insisted sold more books. Though she hid it well, he could tell that Alexis didn't understand either. It was like Meredith all over again, Alexis put her heart out there and Kate had left her in the cold too.

At their next poker game a few weeks ago he had learned from Captain Montgomery that she'd started dating a Detective Demming from Robbery Division. Though Roy had tried to sound non-committal about the whole thing, it was clear that he didn't like the guy.

Rick steered clear since then, not wanting to complicate matters for her further, but with every tidbit he heard, he became more and more concerned for Kate, her relationship with this guy did not sound healthy, but there was little he could do, other than pray he was wrong.

He'd put in an appearance at _"The Old Haunt"_ playing bartender last night and overheard a pair of detectives from her unit at the end of the bar complaining about a robbery detective Beckett was seeing who kept showing up at the precinct, trying to interject himself between them and Beckett.

The Captain had sent the man packing once or twice. They'd overheard him arguing with Kate about all the men she worked with and how close-knit she was with them more than once, but this time he'd managed to screw up one of their cases by trying to insinuate himself into an interrogation. Kate had finally had her fill and sent him packing shortly after that.

By what he'd overheard, it hadn't been pretty.

* * *

Castle and his daughter were only riding the elevator to her floor now, because Alexis' birthday was coming and she wanted Kate to come to her sweet sixteen party. Meredith had already promised to come, and then begged off because of a movie role, and he couldn't think of a reason not to invite Kate. Alexis was getting her hopes up, possibly too much, he only hoped she didn't get her heart broken... again.

The two of them could hear the pounding and yelling out in the hall before the elevator doors could open on her floor.

"Call Eduardo and stay back until he gets here, Pumpkin." Rick whispered before he rounded the corner, to find an obviously intoxicated man pounding on Kate's door.

"Come on Kate, let me in!" He slurred between repeated pounding, "I told you I was sorry I messed up things for you at work."

"Go away Tom!" came Kate's shouted response through the door, "That wasn't the only reason I told you we were done and you damned well know it."

This only seemed to anger the man further, who looked like he was winding up to kick in the door, when Eduardo rounded the corner, Alexis hot on his heels, and Rick stepped in to intervene.

"I don't know who you are friend," Castle stated loudly, "but I believe Detective Beckett told you you to leave."

Demming rounded on him, "I'm a cop," he slurred menacingly, "this is between myself and my girlfriend, so buzz off."

"I don't see a badge, smart guy." Castle replied sharply, "The lady clearly doesn't want you around, building security is here and I'm not gonna ask you nicely to leave again."

"Hey Kate!" Demming shouted, "This the guy you're whoring around on me with now?"

"Kate is not a whore!" Alexis shouted angrily, stepping around her father, and Demming pushed her away before she could slap him. She hit the wall with a squeak, much harder than was necessary, and that was all it took, Rick dropped him with a right cross, sending him to the floor.

Demming came back up, ready to fight. Before he could do much else, a commanding voice roared from behind them.

"Get out of here, Tom! _Right now_!" Kate commanded, her service weapon drawn and pointed at the floor, glaring fiercely.

Demming shrank back as if burned, he was about to say something when Kate interrupted him.

"I called Captain Montgomery, Tom," Kate stated with cold authority, her eyes on fire with rage at the sight of Alexis sitting with her back against the wall, holding her arm whimpering, and Rick glaring at her _very _former boyfriend with murderous intent. "think _very_ carefully about your next move here."

Guilt had been gnawing at Kate's insides for weeks for shutting the two of them out as it was. Rick was a good man, better than his page six reputation represented and an even better father. He'd welcomed her into his home as if she was family and had always been a perfect gentleman, never once pushing her for more. Even though it was readily apparent that wanted something more with her. But he made her feel things that scared her, stirring feelings that frightened her. Feelings she had locked away behind solid walls after her mother had died and her father abandoned her to the bottle.

She had used Roy's subterfuge as an excuse to distance herself from them after she'd been cleared for duty and gone back to work. She'd met Tom when he'd challenged her to a sparring session in the precinct gym.

He was the perfect distraction.

He was attractive, fun and more importantly emotionally unavailable. She liked him, the sex was good, but she felt next to nothing for him otherwise and could safely keep that one foot firmly out the door. His jealousy had creeped up on her bit by bit. She'd thought it was cute at first, but he'd become more and more possessive as time went on, jealous even of the men she worked with. He'd become increasingly rough with her during sexual encounters as a result. She'd known for some time that her her days with him were numbered.

He had crossed the line when it began to effect her job, especially the other day when he'd interfered in one of her cases. Their suspect had lawyered up and walked. She had read Tom the riot act and told him they were over not five minutes later. They were done.

She never went back to somebody who hurt or betrayed her this completely. Tom Demming had done both. It was over, but obviously Tom had not taken the hint.

Though Kate had been hesitant to do more than break up with him, Montgomery filed a formal complaint with Robbery Division and Internal Affairs, resulting in his suspension this afternoon. It would seem that he had found solace in strong drink, a trigger he had no clue would turn her off from him like he had the plague.

As if by magic, Montgomery rounded the corner, with Detective Esposito in tow.

"You all right Beckett?" Montgomery asked, voice tinged with concern.

"Yeah, but Castle might want to press charges." Kate replied as Esposito none - too - gently wrestled Tom against the wall. Rick nodded his assent, anger still radiating off from him as he stood between Demming and Alexis, looking like he was ready to take the man's head off.

Montgomery clapped him gently on the shoulder as if to say, _'look after your little girl, we've got this'_

"Esposito, get him out of here," Montgomery said harshly. "let him sleep it off in holding, we'll hand him off to IAB in the morning."

Castle stuck around only long enough for himself and Alexis to give their statements to the Internal Affairs detective, an older African American woman named Gates. He didn't even cast a glance in Kate's direction before he shepherded his daughter, still sniffling and holding her bruised arm around the corner to the elevator.

Kate searched her heart, but in the end decided she couldn't blame Rick for not sticking around. She'd pushed him aside, frozen him and his daughter out for reasons impossible to justify, and taken up with Tom Demming instead. A choice that she really couldn't defend, even in her own head, given his behavior tonight.

It wasn't until everyone finally left an hour later that she noticed the crumpled purple envelope addressed to her on the floor by her doorway where Alexis must have dropped it when Tom slammed her into the wall. Kate nearly wept when she'd read the invitation to her sweet sixteen party. After the way she'd treated them for the last month, Alexis still invited her, had still wanted her there.

A single tear broke loose from her control and traced down her cheek,

Kate felt like such a fool.

_****A/N addendum** Please don't hate me for leaving Caskett here. More to come... promise.**_

_**Abusive relationships are not okay. They are always the fault of the abuser.**_


	6. Facing The Music pt 2

**Face The Music  
Part Two**

* * *

_Previously_

_It wasn't until everyone finally left an hour later that Kate noticed the crumpled purple envelope addressed to her on the floor by her doorway where Alexis must have dropped it when Tom slammed her into the wall. Kate nearly wept when she'd read the invitation to her sweet sixteen party. After the way she'd treated them for the last month, Alexis still invited her, had still wanted her there._

_A single tear broke loose from her control and traced down her cheek,_

_Kate felt like such a fool. _

* * *

**Castle Loft  
Two Hours Later**

Richard Castle helped Alexis into the loft, having just returned from the emergency room after the incident downstairs with the now former Detective Tom Demming. Rick was thankful that Alexis hadn't been seriously hurt, a bruised shoulder from where she'd hit the wall and a sprained wrist from the fall, but the x-rays had ruled out a hairline fracture. She would need a wrist brace for a few weeks and the doctor had prescribed Tylenol for the pain.

That his baby was in pain at all made Rick's blood boil.

That drunken son of a bitch had hurt his little girl. Rick had called Gina on the way to the emergency room three hours ago, who'd called the lawyers at Black Pawn, who would be contacting the Chief of Detectives in the morning. Demming would not be wearing a badge again anytime soon, at least not in New York that was for sure. Not if he had anything to say about it.

He was generally not given to throwing his weight around - neither publicly nor politically - but when it came to his little girl, Richard Castle became a completely different man. Protecting the people he loves brought out a darker, primal, nearly malevolent side to him.

At his request, Eduardo had checked with the main desk and called around to the other tenants, nobody had buzzed him in. Unsurprising since it would have been hard to come off like an on-duty cop with the amount of alcohol on that man's breath. He must have slipped in behind somebody else. The landlord would certainly be adding a trespassing charge to Demming's list of legal infractions. He'd also gone back through the security footage for the last few weeks, verifying that Kate had never once brought him to the building.

"_Thank God for small favors." _he thought to himself.

The emotional wounds were much deeper though, for both him and Alexis, and had gone back much further than the last few hours. Alexis didn't just feel hurt physically, she felt rejected. Though Rick felt a certain amount of rejection at first because Kate had chosen this man over him, he felt it more keenly for his daughter who had grown attached to Kate

All of this had happened and Kate had not so much as spared a word or a concerned glance in her direction. As bad as he might feel for what Kate was going through, he was still angry with her.

Alexis was still a little wobbly on her feet, so Rick helped her to the couch and settled her down covering her with a blanket.

"Do you need anything, Pumpkin?" Rick asked her, "Are you hungry? I know we missed dinner."

"Yeah" Alexis replied dully, her eyes still locked on the floor, she wasn't feeling hungry, but she knew he would hover and keep asking until she ate something, so she acquiesced. She wanted to be left alone, but she was smart enough to know that wasn't gonna happen. Nor did she really want her father to.

Secretly Rick had hoped Alexis would fight him on it, show at least some of her usual spark, get angry, show that temper redheads were famous for, give him _something_ to work with. Not this emptiness and lack of self-worth Alexis was feeling that tore his insides to shreds.

What had been happening with Kate over the last month had pushed all of his daughter's abandonment issue buttons until he wasn't sure whom he was more angry with: Kate, for walking away like she didn't care and pushing those buttons, or Meredith for abandoning Alexis to further her acting career and putting those buttons there in the first place.

"_How does a father explain to his little girl that mommy loves her job more than her daughter?" _Rick asked himself, and not for the first time since he'd caught Meredith in their bed with her director all those years ago.

"_Does Kate even know what she's done? Does she care?"_

Rick could accept a lot when it came to his own desires. He liked Kate, but they had never crossed the line between friends and something more, it was none of his business whom she dated or slept with.

He'd slept with Meredith... again, (even though he'd long ago accepted that sleeping with her had become more about obliging _her_ sexual needs than his own satisfaction, no matter what spin he put on it) while Kate was with Demming, hoping at least _that_ would keep his ex-wfe interested long enough to stick around for Alexis' birthday, so he certainly felt he had no right to judge Kate on that score alone.

But when it came to his daughter being hurt... that was a bridge too far. That he could not, nor would he ever, easily forgive. If Kate wanted that, she was going to have to work for it.

* * *

**Meanwhile in Kate's apartment  
One floor down.**

Kate had been pacing inside her apartment for the last three hours, unsure of what she should do. She knew that Rick and Alexis had left the Emergency Room. That they had likely been back for several minutes.

Captain Montgomery had called to tell her that much after he had returned to the precinct to do the paperwork for 1PP. In the same breath, he told her not to come in to work the next day. _She_ wasn't in any trouble, but the appearance of impropriety had to be avoided during the meeting between Montgomery, IAB, Demming and his union rep. An officer under his command, even though he was under suspension for insubordination and conduct unbecoming, had intentionally injured a civilian.

Friend of the father's or not, he had a job to do.

Tom Demming had no idea how much of a hornet's nest he'd kicked open up for himself by sneaking into the building in a drunken stupor to confront her.

She'd seen the look in Javi's eye when he'd taken in the sight of Alexis whimpering on the floor holding her arm. Tom had not endeared himself to anyone on her team since they'd become an item, and the wrist lock Javi gripped Demming in when he'd "perp-walked" her former boyfriend down the hall had looked particularly painful.

"_Good."_ she thought evilly.

She'd been angry enough when she broke up with Tom earlier that day, but she was particularly livid with him now. Had Lt. Gates from Internal Affairs not been present, she was sure it would have been a _lot_ more painful for him.

She'd wanted to kick Tom in the balls with the heaviest pair of biker boots she owned. To be honest, she still did. Javi would have gladly held him up while she did it too, she was sure. The mood Montgomery was in, nobody would have seen _anything_.

Kate had spent most of the time waiting for the Castles to get home smoothing out the invitation to Alexis' sweet sixteen party. It twisted in her guts every time her thoughts wandered to what had brought the two of them to her apartment in the first place that night. Had Tom not shown up to pound on her door, she was certain it would have been a similar scene to the first time she had met them.

Kate remembered the look in Alexis' eyes when the girl had asked her to dinner that first time, how she had been prepared for rejection back then, and it tore her heart to shreds how she must have made the teenager feel, not to mention her father, when she'd pulled away after returning to work.

And yet, in spite of it all, even though she'd gotten scared and run out on them, Alexis hadn't given up on _her_, she had still reached out. Just like she still reached out to the mother who'd run out on her. Alexis Castle had deserved better, so had her father. Kate Beckett knew what she had to do.

She had to try to make this right.

* * *

Alexis had poked and moved the macaroni and cheese her father made her around in the bowl, and even managed to eat a little of it while she and her father sat on the couch. The TV drowned on with some animal documentary on PBS, just on for noise because the silence between them, though comforting in it's own way as he held her after she'd cried herself out, had become too oppressive and neither could find anything to say. There was nothing that could be said and Rick hated that he didn't have the right words to make everything better for her.

_"Only one person does, but will she?" _Rick thought to himself angrily.

His thoughts were interrupted by a tentative knocking on her door.

He got up, reached the door in a few strides and opened it to find Kate standing at his door, hair wet and eyes glistening, looking for all the world like she wanted the earth to swallow her whole.

"What do you want, Beckett?" Rick asked, unable to keep the hurt and anger out of his tone.

"I'm sorry, Castle, I'm so sorry." Kate said, her voice barely above a whisper. She knew she'd really stepped in it this time by running, fleeing from something that would make her happy because she was too afraid to reach for it. Too consumed with her own mother's murder, too afraid that by embracing life, without bringing her mother's killer to justice she would somehow let her down. Too terrified to let anyone in lest they see just how broken and screwed up she felt she was.

"For what?" Castle retorted, "Cutting us out of your life like we never existed, or for your _boyfriend_?"

"All of it, Castle, I'm so sorry!" Kate whispered again Castle could see that apologizing was difficult for her, and he hoped she really meant it, but there was also something he had to say.

"I'm not the only one who got hurt, Beckett." Castle said coldly, "Alexis trusted you, she doesn't do so easily because of her mother, but she got attached to you and you did exactly what Meredith always does. You left _her _in the cold and _me _to pick up the pieces."

Kate opened her mouth to speak, to apologize again, but Castle raised a hand between them.

"Don't, Kate," Castle whispered, "I get it, you're sorry, but I'm not the only one you should be saying it to."

"Daddy?" came Alexis' soft, empty voice from the couch, "Who's at the door?"

Castle held the door open for Kate, and she slipped inside before he closed it.

"Hey, Alexis." Kate whispered.

Alexis looked up at her, something like hope in her eyes, but she quashed it, which crushed Kate's spirit even further, that she'd done this to the girl.

"Hey, you left this for me in person," Kate whispered soothingly, "and I thought I should come over and RSVP in person. I'm so sorry for what I did, running out on you guys like that...and I understand if you've changed your mind...but... if you still want me there, I'd be honored to come."

Alexis swung her good arm out and wrapped Kate in a sideways hug, her eyes watery, her heart opening once again for Kate Beckett. His daughters capacity to forgive on full display. Castle stood still, watching, almost in awe.

In Alexis' entire life Meredith had never once done this, never once ever went out of her way to simply apologize for letting her down. Alexis had given her mother chance after chance, but it was always about her.

It made what Kate did even more extraordinary. Allowed him to forgive her as well.

_"Perhaps," _Castle thought to himself, _"the two of us might have a chance after all."_

* * *

_****A/N ** Obviously, a lot more needs to be said before they get to where our Caskett are, but this is a good enough place for us to leave this AU for now. ** _


	7. Reunion

_****This very short drabble is my post ep for 7X15 Spoilers for Reckoning****_

* * *

**Reunion**

Kate and Rick waited impatiently in the loft for word from Eduardo that his mother and Alexis had entered the building.

Under normal circumstances, Rick would have gone out to the airport to meet them, but since returning to the loft after her captivity at the hands of Kelly Nieman, Kate had little desire to go outside, especially after dark and there was no way Rick was letting her out of his sight, either. The last time that happened, she had been taken and he was still having nightmares about it.

When the house phone rang to let him know they were on the elevator, Kate nearly jumped out of her skin, still twitchy about sudden loud noises, she'd told Rick about the firecrackers that were set off right before her phone rang and the hypodermic needle was jabbed into her arm. That song from two years ago playing as the world went black.

_We'll meet again,  
Don't know where,don't know when,  
But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day.  
Keep smiling through,  
Just like you always do,  
Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds, far away._

It played in her nightmares over and over again, always ending the same way, with Kate looking into the mirror and seeing Nieman's face staring back at her. She still had no memory at all of jabbing the scalpel into the woman's neck. Her mind seemed to have blocked it out completely, even though she'd been found standing over the deranged plastic surgeon's corpse, holding the blood coated surgical instrument which Rick had spent an agonizing several moments to pry from her shaking fingers.

Every time Kate woke up screaming, Rick had to remind her that Kelly Nieman was dead, that Tyson was dead. Lanie had showed them the autopsy photos. They had finger prints and DNA on Nieman at least.

Rick thought it was almost poetic justice that Tyson would be buried as Mike Boudreaux. That his name would be forgotten to history. He took dark satisfaction that he had been there to watch the lights go out.

When they heard the key turn in the lock, and Kate stiffened in spit of herself, the two of them rose from the couch just in time for the door to burst open and Alexis to rush inside, nearly knocking Kate over in a tackle hug. Alexis kissed her cheek, and Rick could swear he saw tears forming in Kate's eyes.

"Kate, I'm so glad you're okay." Alexis whispered in her ear over and over.

When his mother finally made her entrance it was strangely anticlimactic, her thunder stolen by the younger redhead. Jim would be over in the morning to look in on Kate and spend a night in the guest room. In a few hours their whole family would be under one roof, together and whole again.

Safe at last.


	8. Partners Pt2

_**Another one shot reprise of the "Partners" AU. People were clamoring for a return to this AU from the beginning of this little anthology. Be careful what you with for... you just might get it.**_

**Partners**

* * *

_Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends._

_John 15:3_

* * *

**Presbyterian Hospital**  
**Two Weeks after Castle's arrival**

Detective Beckett paced back and forth across the waiting room floor, trying to get her emotions under control. She and Castle had gone to pick up their murder suspect and he had decided to make a fight of it. Gerald Ruskin, had never presented as a particularly violent murderer. His first victim had been killed largely by accident, a poison cocktail intended for his second victim.

Nothing either herself or Castle had been able to discover about him had led them to the notion that he even _owned_ a firearm, much less that he had been inclined to use one. They had put on their vests merely as a precaution, she had holstered her weapon to retrieve her cuffs.

The man's gun had been leveled at her chest before she could draw her sidearm again, but she had been levered aside by her partner before the Russian made Tokarev had gone off. He'd taken the first two rounds squarely in the center of his vest, but the third had struck him low on the shoulder, just under the Kevlar strap of his body armor. By the time Ruskin could turn the gun back on her, she had her weapon drawn and had put two rounds cleanly in his chest.

Castle had lost a lot of blood. Kate had done everything she could, pressed her scarf into the entrance wound until the paramedics arrived. She'd still had his blood on her hands when she had called his mother and got the daughter instead. Told her that her father had been shot, that she'd sent Ryan and Esposito to pick her up and to wait inside her building for them.

Kate had scrubbed and scrubbed her hands after hanging up the phone, Lanie had arrived shortly after the ambulance and sent her to the ladies room with a clean shirt from her locker, but she couldn't seem to get clean, couldn't get her partner's blood off her hands.

They had been partners for only two weeks, he had a daughter who needed him, but he'd pushed her out of the way and taken three bullets for her without a second thought.

That phone call was the first time she had ever spoken to his daughter. They had been partners for only two weeks, he had invited her numerous times to come to his place for dinner to meet his family, but she had always found an excuse to beg off. She knew he wasn't Tom Demming. That he wasn't asking as some kind of cheesy pickup line, his daughter and mother had simply wanted to meet her. But she just couldn't get past her own fear of letting somebody else in. Her walls were bad enough before she had met Tom, and she had built them even higher to defend herself since. So she would not make the same mistake twice.

She regretted it now. This was not the way she should have been introduced to her partner's daughter.

Kate recognized Alexis almost immediately. Castle had been almost obnoxious about showing photos of his daughter to her. He almost always seemed to have a new one. The fifteen year old recognized her almost immediately, so it was likely he had shown her pictures as well. When he could have taken them she had no clue.

"Where's my dad?" Alexis cried out, clearly terrified.

Kate had read the LAPD report, Alexis and her mother had been taken from the parking lot of an upscale boutique. Alexis had been forced to watch as her mother was shot right in front of her. The bastards had even made her watch her mother bleed out on a cold warehouse floor before the SWAT team had found them and breached the building. Revenge on Richard Castle for sending their father to prison on his third strike, only to be shanked in the exercise yard two days later.

He had moved to New York to get away from all of that. To give his daughter a fresh start.

Now Alexis' father had been shot. Kate could easily imagine what the girl was feeling. To this day, she still had nightmares about her mother's stabbing. Especially since she had investigated her share of stabbing deaths

"He's in surgery, Alexis...clean through and through...they...they told me his prognosis was good." Kate whispered, unable to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"You're his partner!" Alexis wailed, tears tracking down her face, "You were supposed to keep him safe!"

"The...the suspect... he was going to shoot me," Kate whispered, "but your father... shoved me out of the way... I'm sorry. It was supposed to be me, I'm so sorry."

Tears were tracking down her own face as she pulled the sobbing girl to her chest, wrapping Alexis up tight in her arms.

"Nonsense, Katherine." Kate heard unexpectedly, her eyes snapped up over Alexis' shoulder, her eyes talking in an older redhead who could only be Castle's mother who had obviously heard every word.

"I know my son," Martha Rodgers whispered, "he could not have stood by and watched you be shot. It is not in his nature. He would have never forgiven himself."

"Mrs. Rodgers!" Kate stiffened, attempting to pull back from Alexis, but the girl refused to let go. "I should..."

"You should do no such thing." Martha whispered, drawing both her and Alexis into her arms.

The doctor came out a short time later. It was clear that he had appraised her, giving her body an up and down look, which she killed with a glare and a flash of her badge.

"Family of Richard Castle?" Dr. Davidson said, finally tearing his eyes off her and doing his job.

Martha had reminded the man that she was the one he needed to be addressing, and he informed them of Castle's condition. A nurse quickly followed and led them to recovery where they could see him briefly. Martha had made it clear in no uncertain terms that Kate was invited.

The doctor touched Kate's arm to get her attention and tried to hand her his card, but Kate stopped him short with a glare.

"Take your hand off my arm if you wish to keep those fingers, Doctor," Kate hissed, clearly not impressed. "My partner was just shot, and you really think that this is a good time to ask me out?"

"Can't blame a guy for trying." he said, with confidence just a little too close to arrogance for her liking. Tom had looked at her, and spoken to her that way once upon a time and it was almost guaranteed to make her skin crawl. She didn't have to dig too deeply to find her anger.

"Excuse me, _Doctor _I have someplace I have to be." Kate stated coldly, taking the card from his hand and shoving it none too gently into the breast pocket of his scrubs, making it clear through her death glare that his advances were clearly unwelcome. "Try showing a little more class next time Dr. Davidson, the next girl might not let you off so easily."

After the door closed behind her, she composed herself before walking into the room.

He was alive, he was going to recover. He would be awake soon.

In half a heartbeat he had been willing to trade his life for hers.

He barely knew her, but with this single act he had bound his destiny with hers. They were linked now. She may not have been sure of his intentions before, but she was certain of one thing now.

They were partners.

She would never doubt him again.


	9. Reckoning

_**The first part of this story (above the line if x's) was written by Kato Molotov (n-p-y-d:) on Tumblr. **_

_**Used with permission**_

Castle's teeth grind in concentration and ire while he tries to balance the bowl of broth in his shaking hands.

He's been upset with her before, but this is different. It's not a fight borne of misunderstandings or one of their early, petty arguments to avoid talking about the tension that boiled between them for four years. It's not a silly bickering match about whose art should go where in the bedroom.

Today, he's _angry_. She's reckless and loses all the sense in her head the moment something relates to her mother's case. This time, she didn't even know that going in. That's what bothers him the most. She ran off on a dangerous assignment with no real reason, with no regard for her own life or for her family. It's not just her and her dad. It's him and Martha and Alexis, too.

But she's here. And she's his, and he is hers, and she is sick. And they're just going to have to deal with it.

For a couple days, he was simply happy to have her back. He was more than happy to hold her when she screamed in her sleep and coughed up imaginary ice water, or pleaded for her life. He laid awake the whole first night, holding her and trying not to imagine her being water-boarded and taunted about her dead mother. He made love to her brokenly when she couldn't sleep and reached for him to exhaust her and take the fear and sorrow away from her. He wept with her when she told him about the letter, one he's not sure whether he wants to see someday or not. At first, he was just happy she was here and alive and more or less unharmed.

Then the cough didn't go away, and her refusal to go to the doctor until blood came up was the last push on his already-thin patience. He hardly heard a thing after the doctor said it. Bacterial pneumonia. _Pneumonia_ is what people walk into the hospital for and come out in a body bag because of. Old people, mostly - both of his grandparents, already in ailing health - but it's still a word woven from death in his mind.

An irrational surge of irritation rises in his throat like bile at the sight of her NYPD sweatshirt. Practically, he knows it's just warm and comfortable for her, but he hates the advertisement, the endorsement of the job that's once again almost taken her away. He loves her, and that means accepting her job. Hell, he _loves_ her job, by itself and as an inseparable part of her. Most of the time. But not like this. Not when it means sending her into completely unnecessary danger. He'll have a word with Captain Gates, her authority be damned. Let her kick him out. Let her try. She's not sending Kate into some other department's drama again.

Kate stirs, blinking up in a childlike way from underneath her hood and sitting up enough for him to put the broth down on the tray. The same one he planned a few days earlier to serve her breakfast in bed on.

Well, it's breakfast. She's in bed. That's something. She has the strength to sit up and eat today, and that's something else.

"Castle?" her voice, raw from cough and little rest, pipes up beside him. His back is turned but he can hear her distress. For a split second, he enjoys it, because it means she's feeling _something_ other than her righteous justification now. "Castle, are you mad at me?"

Looking over his shoulder, he sees her, small and weakened. Not out, not in any danger any more (just miserable), but weaker than he's seen her since her shooting and looking every bit the sad kitten. A good part of his heart wills him to gather her up and stroke her and tell her he's not, that he could never be mad at her, make her feel better. But that would be a lie, and moreover, that's what he's always done and it hasn't stopped her from running off and being stupid and reckless.

"Drink your broth," he requests instead, wondering what he should and shouldn't say.

"Castle…"

She shifts uncomfortably and gives a still-soggy cough that makes him wince. Taking a deep breath and reaching behind him to blindly cover her hand with his, Castle threads his fingers into hers, feeling the comforting presence of his ring on her delicate fingers in spite of himself.

"Yes," he manages out, firmly but calmly. "I'm mad at you."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kate sat there looking up at him with watery eyes and he saw something like comprehension on her face. "I did it again, didn't I?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper, another watery cough punctuated her question.

"Yes." , his voice a little colder than he liked, "Just like after your shooting and the DC job, you looked me right in the eye and lied to my face. I had to find out about it after the fact just like always."

"But..." Kate stammered, "I was..."

Rick pulled his hands away and rose from the bed, jolting Kate from her defense of her actions that morning.

"Don't, Kate," he said angrily, "You know damned well you shouldn't have lied to me about this. I'm supposed to be your partner and your fiancee. You either trust me enough to be honest with me or that ring on your finger doesn't mean a damned thing."

Kate opened her mouth to speak but Rick interrupted, "and don't you dare tell me that it wasn't about us, because you know that's so much bullshit. We both know damned well that if I was a cop, or I was just your fiancee Gates would not have pulled this stunt. I would have been there just like Ryan and Esposito were."

Rick stalked over to the closet, threw on his best suit and tie then grabbed his shoes.

"Rick!" Kate croaked, her voice cracking on the single syllable of his first name.

"No Kate, I've had about enough," Rick said angrily on his way out the door, "Gates may have no respect for me as your partner, she's gonna goddamn well learn some for me as your fiancee. Perhaps it's about time you did too."

He turned to cast one look at Kate, his heart still broken to see her so physically and emotionally wrecked, but he couldn't do this anymore, he couldn't just let it be.

"Alexis is here if you need anything, I'll be back as soon as I've spoken my peace."

Rick was on his cell phone before he was fully out of the room. His turned back was the last thing Kate saw. She was afraid she would lose him as her partner at work, but she was more afraid that she'd finally pushed him one step too far. That as soon as she was better he would be done with her entirely.

* * *

Castle walked stepped through the elevator doors into the 12th Precinct, flanked by Chris Peterson, his attorney and Kate's father. Ryan and Esposito were up from their desks to intercept him before he was halfway to Gates' office. "Bro, think about what you're doing." Esposito said.

"Kate called you, did she?" Castle said coldly, "if _somebody _had called _me_, or answered _my calls_, we wouldn't be in this mess." He glared at both of them in turn, and neither could hold his gaze. They knew exactly what he blamed them for. The three unanswered messages from him on their phones stood in mute testimony to their failure in fellowship to Beckett's partner. She'd gone into danger with no backup and when the whole thing had gone to hell, she had been tortured and nearly killed.

They lowered their heads and stepped aside for Rick to walk up to her office door and knock.

"Mr. Castle, what are you doing here?" Gates asked, not looking the slightest bit amused.

"I'm here to ask you, as both Kate's fiancee and her partner what the hell you were thinking the other day." Rick asked, his eyes cold without a shred of the usual intimidation he usually felt.

"One of those things may no longer apply if you don't get out of my office." Gates replied, one eyebrow raised in a gesture that usually made the writer cringe. Only it didn't.

"Actually that is where you are mistaken, Captain Gates." Chris spoke up, "Chris Peterson, attorney at law."

Before Gates could say another word, Chris laid a folded blue sheaf of paper on her desk and continued. "This is a court order signed by judge Markaway, an injunction, barring you from removing Richard Castle as Detective Beckett's partner without the approval of Mayor Weldon or showing just cause why he should be removed."

"You do know I could have this thrown out with a phone call to 1PP, right?" Gates stated.

"Perhaps, but you might find that more difficult should I file this." Peterson replied, "a formal complaint citing you and Lt. Fowler for negligence and dereliction of duty for this irregular and highly suspect operation. Also signed by the mayor."

"That operation was duly signed off on by the deputy commissioner..." Gates began, but Castle cut her off.

"The same Deputy Commissioner who practically pimped Kate out to Eric Vaughn in return for contributions to his political career? The one who later used a trumped up hiring freeze to try to keep her from getting her job back last fall? _That _Deputy Commissioner?"

In spite of herself, Gates swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She may not like having a civilian at her precinct, but he certainly had a point. The deputy commissioner had never really had Beckett's best interests at heart. That was supposed to be her Captain's job. She had really not been thinking logically at the time.

"And how, pray tell, did you get Detective Beckett to sign off on all this?" Gates asked, it was the only card she had left to play and she knew it.

"She didn't have to." Jim Beckett finally spoke up, "after her shooting two years ago, Katie granted me durable power of attorney in case she was ever incapacitated again. I authorized it on her behalf. I can provide the legal documents if you like."

"Mr. Beckett, why are _you _doing this?" Gates asked.

"Because you convinced my daughter to go into a dangerous situation, without proper backup and little regard for her safety which lead to her being tortured and very nearly being killed. Just like Rick, I hold you responsible, and I want answers." Jim replied without hesitation. "You can answer Rick's question and mine now, in private, because I know that's what Katie would prefer, or you can answer them in front of a review board. Your choice."

"Okay." Gates replied. She knew when she had been outmaneuvered. She actually found herself respecting Castle a little more for it. Given all the legal documents on her desk, he could have simply gone to the mayor, just for spite and she would be on the hot seat. Instead he had come here first. He had displayed more respect for her than she had anticipated and a hell of a lot more than she had shown him lately.

"You're right, Mr. Castle. I may have allowed my disdain for your presence here to color my judgement in this matter. I took Captain Fowler's word that security was adequate when I should have been more proactive. Ordering her to keep you in the dark was also an error in judgement on my part. It won't happen again."

* * *

Kate was beside herself as she lay sprawled on the bed she usually shared with Rick. She had texted Javi to try to get Castle to back down, but the one she got back from him had not gone as she expected.

**_Sorry boss, I tried, but he wouldn't budge. Showed up with his lawyer and your dad. Can't say I blame him though. He's right to be pissed. At you and us. We broke the faith, not him._**

She felt miserable, and not just because of the pneumonia, or that the breathing treatments made her dizzy and sick to her stomach. Not one word from Rick since he left, only a brief text message from her dad saying that he was going with Rick to speak on her behalf and keep things from getting out of hand. Rick rarely actively ignored her messages, but his phone had been going straight to voice mail for most of the afternoon. Her increasingly desperate text messages had also gone unanswered.

The last time had been after he found the boarding pass for the flight to DC. The last time she had kept important information secret. "_You mean the last time you looked him in the eye, smiled and lied right to his face." _A small voice inside her head told her. "_Look how that turned out."_

She knew Rick was done putting up with her lying and keeping secrets from him. They would be getting married soon and their marriage would be every bit the disaster his other two had been, nor would their partnership long survive, if she continued this habit of lying to him about important matters until he couldn't trust her anymore.

When she asked Alexis why Castle's marriage to her mother failed and she stated dryly like it was nothing short of common knowledge. "Mom lied to him, violated his trust and cheated on him in the very bed you're lying in right now."

When Kate's jaw dropped, shocked at the sudden revelation, Alexis blushed. "Voices carry more than people think around here and I have _very _sensitive ears." Then after a short pause she added, "I would prefer that you don't let on that I know, dad likes to believe he's protected me from my mother's sins."

Alexis had swept from the room shortly after making a show of fluffing her pillows and straightening her blankets, more than a little angry, herself, if Kate had read the redhead's body language correctly.

When Rick finally did come home, she knew she had more than a little fence mending to do after she felt better. She loved Castle more than life itself, so much it scared the shit out of her sometimes. He was her one and done and if she wanted their marriage to last, if she truly didn't want to drive him away, she knew it was time to prove how much she was in this.

Rick shouldn't have to keep chasing her or scratching and clawing for every inch anymore.


	10. Mass Effect: Caskett style

**_Tumblr Prompt: Caskett in the Mass Effect universe_**

* * *

_In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient space-faring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time. They called it the greatest discovery in human history. _

_The civilizations of the galaxy call it... MASS EFFECT. _

* * *

**Jump Zero  
20 November 2183  
Alliance Ambassador  
William Bracken's Office**

"Well, what about Beckett?" Ambassador Bracken asked, "She's Earth-born, raised on the streets, no record of her family though."

"She doesn't have one, her mother was a civil rights attorney, killed, in professional hit," Captain Roy Montgomery said, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice, "father drank himself to death. She learned how to look after herself at age nineteen."

"She proved herself during the blitz," Admiral Hackett said coolly. "Held off enemy forces on the ground until reinforcements arrived."

Montgomery nodded in agreement, "She's the only reason Elysium is still standing."

"We can't question her courage." Bracken agreed, though her name sounded vaguely familiar.

"Humanity needs a hero, and Beckett's the best we've got." Montgomery said, his chest puffed out with pride at his protege.

"I'll make the call." Bracken said.

* * *

**Alliance Colony  
Eden Prime  
25 November 2183  
21:00 hours**

It had started off as a routine patrol. Gunnery Chief Richard Castle had been itching to get off base for days, consumed by curiosity about the Prothean dig site. He'd peppered the scientists with questions almost daily, his enthusiasm for the project had become infectious among the men and women of his squad.

That was before they got jumped. It was the Geth! Why the hell would the Geth be all the way out here?

The first two salvos of heavy weapons fire took out their MACO and and the troop transport, the battle soon degenerated into a running gunfight to hold them off so the civilians could evacuate. He'd split his unit into two groups one on the camp and his own on the outer perimeter.

His comm officer had just gotten the extranet gear set up when the Geth hit them again.

"Get down!" He shouted to Private Bhatia, but an incoming round splattered her brains across his armor, so he patched his own helmet mic into the system.

"Gunnery Chief Richard Castle 4th of the 212! We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties, I repeat, heavy casualties!"

He grunted as explosive rounds went off nearby and continued as he returned fire, "we can't hold them! ...need evac ! They came from out of nowhere! We need..."

He was cut off when a noise like screaming metal screamed in his head, but he was the first to recover, noting the comm gear was smashed. He couldn't be sure if the transmission got out, the rest of his squad was dead, so he took off on a run.

He had a job to do, last member of his shattered command or not, he had to know what happened to Bravo squad and the civilians, so he doubled back. Even if it killed him, he had to know the rest of the story.

* * *

**That same moment  
SSV Normandy Comm room**

"_Get down!"_

"_...We are under attack... Taking heavy casualties, I repeat, Heavy Casualties!"_

"_... can't hold them... aragh... need evac! They came from out of nowhere! We need..."_

Lt. Commander Kate Beckett stared intently at the monitor, watched the C.O. of the shattered squad give his report under fire, even as his squad-mates fell around him, his chest plate coated with blood spatter and brain matter before the transmission cut out.

"Reverse and hold at 38.5." Capt. Montgomery ordered.

While her captain and Nihlus stared at the screen, Kate's thoughts went back to the man she had seen, it was likely his last stand. She had remembered scattered moments much like that at Elysium dueing the Skyllian Blittz, that hardened determination to hold the line.

"Status report." Capt. Montgomery ordered.

"Seventeen Minutes out, Captain." Came Ryan's voice over the intercom, "No other Alliance ships in the area."

"Take us in, Ryan, fast and quiet, " Montgomery said, "This mission just got a lot more complicated."

A small strike team can move quickly, without drawing attention." Nihlus said, "It's our best chance to secure the beacon."

_"Cold blooded bastard."_ Kate thought to herself, _"People are dying down there."_

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold." Montgomery agreed, the turian was on his way out the door before the words were out of the captain's mouth, so he turned to Beckett,

"Tell Esposito and Jenkins to suit up, Commander, you're going in."

Kate stared up at the screen at the strange, hand shaped ship, then turned away to carry out her orders. She would get the job done, but the broad shouldered, blue eyed man she'd seen just moments ago would not leave her thoughts. She would complete her mission as best she could, she knew that. It's why Nihlus had put her forward as a candidate for the Specters after all. She had a job to do.

But if there was a chance in hell of bringing that man back alive, mission or not, she would do it.

She would find a way.

* * *

_****Author's Note** This prompt came up anonymously on Tumblr. It got into my head and and refused to come out. So here you go. Maybe I'll do something about it, and maybe I won't, I have not decided.**_


	11. May the Fourth Be With You

**May the Force Be With You**

* * *

_There is no emotion, there is only peace.  
There is no ignorance, there is only knowledge.  
There is no passion, there is only serenity.  
There is no chaos, there is only harmony.  
There is no death, there is only the Force. _

—The Jedi Code (Based on the meditations of Odan-Urr)

* * *

Richard Castle was lead into the room in the French villa where Alexis was being held, drawing her from her meditations and to her feet in the cage where she had been kept since the botched escape attempt a few days before. Though she gave every appearance of being frightened, beneath the surface she was a placid as a still pond.

When their hands met through the bars of the small cage, her father passed her metal cylinder, a move which had apparently gone unnoticed by the guards at either side of the cage door. Before a severe looking older Russian man walked imperiously into the room.

"Mr Castle, you should not have interfered in my affairs." Alexei Volkov stated.

Castle closed his eyes, which Volkov took as a sign if resignation and continued.

"The El Masri's owed me a very large amount of money, which they paid me, with interest to get their dear Sara back. Your daughter was of no consequence to me, and I would have turned her loose unharmed until I learned of your interference. As punishment for your misdeeds, I will make you watch her die before I kill you."

"You should have let her go and walked away, Mr. Volkov." Castle replied, his voice much more calm than he expected, given Richard Castle's playboy reputation. "It is the last mistake you will ever make."

Before Volkov could react to the fact that the man had just threatened him, before any of his men could react at all Castle exploded into action with the snap-hiss of an igniting a silver bladed lightsaber. decapitating Volkov in a single swift stroke. Gone was the egotistical man-child author Richard Castle.

In his place, Volkov's men were facing Jedi Master Ri Quan Castillion.

At nearly the same instant, with an explosive push of force energy, Alexis burst from the cage that had moments before been her prison cell, igniting her own bright green blade as she went, cutting down her two guards with a flick of her wrists as she joined the fight.

Father and daughter, master and apprentice the two engaged their adversaries, their flashing lightsabers making short work of all who opposed them. Their enemies pistols, rifles and machine pistols may as well have been firing spitballs for all the good they were doing.

Alexis was a prodigy with a lightsaber. Her father had often told her that she was one of the best he had ever trained in all his years training padawans in the Jedi temple, but even as she flowed with the force, cutting down any who came at her with evil intent, she marveled at her father's prowess with his shimmering silver blade.

The fight, if it could truly be called that, was over in minutes.

When the last of Volkov's men was cut down, Alexis and her father each spun to a stop, flicking their blades up then pointed at the floor in salute to each other with a flourish, before closing them down.

"You fought well, padawan," Castle said with conviction.

Just like that, the mask that was Richard Castle once again descended as he returned his lightsaber to the holdout in the sleeve of his leather jacket. The tailor had looked at him funny when he'd had the jacket custom made for him. Generally, the only time he carried it when not training his daughter in the Jedi arts was when he was following Detective Beckett into known danger.

Now, as Alexis and her father surveyed the carnage in the room, she could feel that he was overcome with a wave of distaste. Alexis felt it too. Both of them were sensitive to the disturbance in the force even killing these men created before they walked out of the villa and made their way to the American Consulate.

Alexis had lived on this small backward planet so far beyond the unknown regions there were no star maps at all, her entire life. She had spent the bulk of that time with one foot in two worlds. Citizen of the United States, and Padawan of the former Jedi Order.

She had seen images in her mind during her meditations in communion with the force over the years. Visions of the world her father had once inhabited. Her mind had often journeyed into the past as she touched the living force to see where she actually came from. The world her father had been forced to flee as the Old Republic crumbled to be supplanted by Palpatine's Empire.

She had witnessed the devastation of the Clone Wars, the destruction of the Jedi Order. Saw her real mother cut down by the very clone troopers she had once lead into battle as General Order 66 was set in motion. Saw her father leading every Padawan who could wield a lightsaber in the doomed defense of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Watched as he was finally forced to flee with her cradled in one arm, and his flashing lightsaber in the other.

After everything her father had suffered since her birth, Alexis was amazed that he hadn't lost his way and turned to the dark side. That he did what he could (there is no try) to keep the spirit of the Jedi Order alive on this small backwater planet in the middle of nowhere. Keeping true to the tenets that Master Yoda and Master Qui Gon had instilled in him as a child.

Even that he had found room in his heart for Detective Kate Beckett back in New York. Her quest for justice had inspired him, both as a Jedi and as the writer he once thought he only pretended to be. One day he promised her he would share this one last secret with Kate. But for now, it was safer for her that this remained between the two of them.

Until then, it was left to the will of the force.

* * *

_****Author's note** A very belated, "May the Fourth be with you." This was written on the fourth so I hope this counts.**_


	12. In the Belly of the Beast

**In The Belly of the Beast**

* * *

"_Fear is the path to the dark side.  
Fear leads to anger,  
Anger leads to hate  
Hate leads to suffering."_

-from the teachings of Grand Master Yoda

* * *

Richard Castle knew that Kate had not been entirely honest with him after her phone call from the precinct on her day off. He could sense the lie she'd told very bit as surely as he could when she had gone to DC for the interview with the Attorney General before he'd proposed to her last spring.

He could sense this time that the lie was not based in fear for where their relationship was going, like it had been back then, nor was it intended to cause him harm or push him away, like it had been early on in their partnership. He could feel her strong sense of loyalty to the 12th Precinct, her duty to protect and serve the public good behind it and did not probe any deeper out of respect for her privacy. It was her fierce nobility of purpose that had drawn him to her in the first place. Her almost Jedi like dedication to seeking the truth and defending the innocent. Only this time it had been used against her, by the Captain she had only recently begun to trust.

Her promise to be home by dinner, that she would explain everything had blinded him to what was truly going on until dinner was long cold, she hadn't come home and it was too late.

Now he wished he had dug that little bit deeper, pressed that little bit harder.

Kate was gone, abducted from what he later learned was supposed to have been a _"simple drug buy"_ and just like that, the bottom dropped out of his world. Just like it had over twenty years ago on that dark day when Meredith pain had reached out to him through the force and just as suddenly silenced, leaving an emptiness in his heart that he was only beginning to fill.

He hadn't time for his sorrows that day, however. Anakin Skywalker, traitor to the Jedi Order had marched on the temple a handful of minutes later at the head of a legion of clone troopers. The rest was history.

Now he had far too much time for a sense of helplessness and anger to set in. He had no idea where Kate was, only that she was not dead, and was in great peril. He had not felt so powerless in his entire life, he felt bereft, empty, cut off from the force. Despair clung to him like a heavy cloak as fear and anger clawed at his heart.

Fear that Kate was in danger and he wasn't there to stand with her.  
Anger at Kate for lying to him.  
Anger at Captain Gates for ordering her to lie to him and then ordering Kate's fellow detectives to conceal what was going on from him.  
Anger at Kevin and Javier for ignoring his calls once they knew.  
Anger at himself most of all, for knowing that she had lied to him, and not calling her on it.

The dark side of the Force beckoned to him and for the first time in his entire life with the Jedi Order, he didn't care. This was the choice, the fork in the road that had been laid out before Anakin Skywalker. He understood it now. Understood _him_ and his motivations in a way he had never examined before. He now felt the very same seductive pull the former Jedi had toward the dark side of the Force.

Suddenly, the darkened room was bathed in a soft blue glow, and Castle felt a familiar presence coalesce into being beside him.

_"Fear is the path to the dark side, my husband."_ Meredith Skirata said quietly.

He had never known when the shade of his dead wife had first begun to reach out to them through the Force. The first time he had recalled seeing the now familiar shimmering blue manifestation of her had been when Alexis was three years old. She'd been having night terrors, Force visions really, many were of the violent past from which they'd fled. Dreams and visions which had frightened her beyond belief. More than once during that period, he had been shaken from his meditations when she'd cried out to him in terror through the Force.

One night, after just such an occurrence, he had entered her bedroom to find the blue tinged shade of his dead wife manipulating the Force to stroke Alexis' red hair, brushing it from her forehead and singing softly to her in her native Mando 'a. Her daughter's pain had reached out to her through the Force, and drew her spirit back into this world from wherever she had gone.

Since then Meredith had been a constant fixture in their lives. She would appear to them whenever needed for guidance, company and reassurance for both Alexis and for him. As it turned out, Jedi training did not include much insight into raising a young girl, force sensitive or no, on one's own. Her help in that regard had been most beneficial.

It had been she who had encouraged his broadening relationship with Kate, and had given him her blessing to move on with his life. Force shade or not, she was still dead and he was not.

"I don't know where she is, _Mer'ika_," he whispered, using the Mandalorian term of endearment they used around each other, "somebody has her, I don't know who that is, and I don't know what to do. It's like losing _you_ all over again." he lowered his head and sounded every bit like the lost little boy he'd appeared to Kate in holding last year when Jerry Tyson had framed him for murder and whispered even more quietly, guilt tinging every word, "I can't even find her in the force."

_"Let go, Ri'ika"_ she whispered back, her semi translucent form kneeling in front of him until their eyes met. _"As you well know, a Jedi's power flows from the force only when they are at peace. Richard Castle may be powerless to act, but that is not who you are. You are Ri Quan Castillion, Jedi Master. Your ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Luminous beings are we, let go of your conscious self, my husband, reach out to the living force and you will find her."_

* * *

**Scarsdale**

**Three hours later**

Nobody saw the hooded, robed shadow as it moved toward the mansion compound in the darkness. He spoke not a word as he swept toward the front gate, his pace sure and certain. Two armed guards approached him as he neared the gate, weapons drawn as if to challenge him and send him on his way, but a flick of his wrist had them dropping their weapons and grasping their throats instead. Their supply of oxygen suddenly cut off, rendering them unconscious without so much as a word spoken from the silent intruder.

Ri Quan Castillion walked slowly, but with strength of purpose as he passed though the gate and into the compound, his feet carrying him up to the house, another flick of his wrist unlocked and swept open the door seconds before he reached it and swept inside.

He swept through the halls and down the stairwell to the basement. Armed guards who approached him met the same fate as those at the gate, collapsing to the ground clutching their throats until their consciousness fled. Unarmed counters and sorters of money saw only a shadow pass behind them as they performed their tasks and nothing more. Those who actually laid eyes upon him would remember nothing about him later, only a quiet voice in their heads they couldn't quite place whispering the word _"forget"._

He never once needed to activate, nor even reach for his lightsaber.

His only regret after accepting the counsel of his dead wife had been manipulating Javier Esposito's mind on his subsequent visit to the precinct, but of her co-workers, his mind was the most susceptible to Jedi persuasion. Javi had revealed to him that Kate had called him from a cell phone, that Tory had been able to narrow their search grid to somewhere near a single cell tower in Scarsdale.

His connection with the Force had done the rest.

Once he had let go of the anger and fear that had clouded his mind, separating him from the living Force he had found her precise location with ridiculous ease, but also with little time with which to effect a rescue. There was no time to wait for the police. The moment the guards spotted police lights, Kate would have been killed.

A man named _"Jones" _approached him, but Ri Quan flicked his wrist, manipulating his mind through the force. "Where is she?" he whispered, and Jones told him, falling into step as a puppy would follow his master.

"This way, sir." he said, and led the way toward the lower part of the basement where the cells were.

* * *

The water was still, around her head, Kate had long since stopped struggling as Harten held her face under the water, nor did she gasp for air when they pulled her out. She was barely coherent as her head lolled back onto Harten's shoulder. The cut on her bruised brow had tinged the ice water in the tub a light pink.

"You know your lungs are burning." Simmons said in his low menacing baritone, "I can feel the panic in your soul. All you want is for this to end. And I promise I will end it. Just tell me what I want to know."

Kate tried to bite back any response but she lacked the strength even for that. She didn't have the answer he sought, she had been sent in _because_ Fowler knew nothing. Her senses seemed to have been reduced to transmitting only pain and bone chilling cold. She opened her mouth to tell him everything she knew, but her eyes rolled back in her head and Harten dropped her to the floor in a heap, where she lay crumpled and choking up the water that had been forced into her lungs, but otherwise she lay still, too drained to move.

"Scrub the place," Simmons commanded, and two men stepped forward as Simmons grabbed his jacket, upending the chair he'd hung it on. "Find a patch of dirt to put her in, somewhere where she won't be found."

Before Harten could move to comply, he found himself lifted from the damp floor as if by an unseen hand and flung headfirst against the nearest stone wall, his neck snapping on impact with a grotesque crunch. The other two men in the room were suddenly collapsed on the floor gripping their throats and gasping for breath, leaving Simmons alone with the hooded intruder who had slipped unnoticed into the room, leaving Jones collapsed outside the door in an unconscious heap.

"Who the..." Simmons began, but his angry demand, along with his oxygen supply, was cut off as he rose bodily into the air as if lifted by the throat by an unseen hand. He was gagging and choking, his hands grasping his neck as he struggled and fought to breathe.

"_It would be so easy to simply snap his neck." _a voice whispered in his mind, one that sounded an awful lot like Chancellor Palpatine, _"He won't talk, you know that, she knows that. He won't give Kate anything, just kill him. Give in to your aggressive feelings, to your anger, your hatred. Finish him and everything is yours. She will never know." _

Everything that Palpatine's voice in his head said was true, from a certain point of view. But doing so would mean rejecting everything Kate stood for, every principal for which she had fought and suffered since her mother was murdered.

It was _not_ the way of the Jedi.

This was the choice Anakin Skywalker had been presented with, the choice he had made that had destroyed everything he had professed to believe in. He had taken the quick, seductive, easy path, and everyone he loved, everything that he had wanted to protect had been destroyed. He had sacrificed _everything_ Padme Amidala and Obi Wan Kenobi had seen in him to become Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith. Defender of _nothing_, protector of _nothing_. Servant of the Dark Side of the Force.

"No!" Ri Quan shouted, releasing the force hold on Simmons' neck, dropping the unconscious drug kingpin to the cold stone floor as he moved to assess Kate's condition.

"I am _not_ Anakin Skywalker," he whispered, " I am Jedi Master Ri Quan Castillion and I will _not_ be turned."

He lifted Kate up in his arms, cradling her to his chest and carried her from the room, not once pausing to look back.

* * *

**That very same moment.  
USS Intrepid Museum**

The water underneath the she gallant old warship bubbled and roiled, leaving a trail moving downstream from the aircraft carrier, until a moment later, the YT-1300 stock freighter _Mandalore's Glory_ broke the surface and rose from the water on its repulsorlifts with Alexis Castle at the controls.

"Okay, R-5, let's hit it!" she said to the astromech droid attending to the ship's systems via the interface connected to it's domed head. The aging Corellian light freighter's main engines kicked in, and she powered skyward into the night, disappearing into the low hanging fog bank, keeping well below navigational radar.

Scarsdale was a short hop for the _Glory. _ Her powerful engines, designed for interplanetary and intergalactic spaceflight, (not to mention hyperspace navigation) would cover the distance in a matter of seconds. Her father needed the bacta treatments in the ship's medical pod for Kate, then transport to the loft and Alexis was determined to make it happen.

Not that she would _ever_ turn down a chance to pilot her mother's pride and joy. R5-D6 had been happily telling her about the progress of the ship's last engine overhaul as soon as she had come aboard and begun the pre-launch checklist.

* * *

**Epilogue**

Kate never did learn how she had actually gotten from the cold, dark basement where she had been tortured to the Castle loft. One day, when he deemed it was safe for her to learn their secret, he would tell her. (Meredith had insisted that he tell Kate before the wedding)

The story he had told everyone was that she had been dumped outside the front door of the building, likely because whomever Simmons had sent to dispose of her got cold feet about killing a cop. When asked, Eduardo confirmed his version of events.

Rick knew that Senator Bracken had lost his chance to balance the scales. That he had likely set this whole sting operation up in order to snare Kate in the web. Not even Vulcan Simmons knew how Kate had escaped.

He would have to vigilant. Like Palpatine, Bracken hungered and thirsted for power and would have to be stopped and he would stand by Kate in her quest to bring him to justice for the murder of her mother. Eventually he knew that Bracken would slip up, maybe go after Kate again. He and his lightsaber would be there to back her up. With the Force as their ally, he knew that they would one day emerge victorious.

The force was a powerful ally indeed.

* * *

_****Author's Note** A certain somene put this plot bunny in my head after the last installment, and it would NOT go away. You know who you are. Happy now?**_

_**:-P**_


	13. Boldly Go

**Boldly Go**

* * *

_Space: the final frontier.  
These are the voyages of Castle and Beckett.  
Their mission, to explore strange new worlds,  
To seek out new life and new civilizations.  
To boldly go where no one has gone before.  
_  
Paraphrased from the opening of Star Trek &amp;  
Star Trek: The Next Generation, created by Gene Roddenberry

* * *

Two Federation starships dropped out of warp and moved into close formation with one another, the first _USS Constitution_, an old Constitution class vessel, the last of her line still in active service. She was on her farewell cruise, under the command of Admiral Saavik, one of her most famous commanders, Constitution had served until now as her flagship. The venerable old lady had served Starfleet well but was slated to be decommissioned and take her place in the Sol System space museum. (alongside NX Enterprise and the Enterprise-A)

The other was _USS New York_, the newest ship of the Vesta Class, the 12th ship in Starfleet history to carry the name. She was under the command of Captain Roy Montgomery and his first officer, Commander Victoria Gates. Nearly every off-duty officer aboard _USS New York_ -and many on duty for that matter- had their noses pressed to every available window on her port side to watch the venerable old _USS Constitution_ come alongside. A piece of Federation and Starfleet history they were unlikely to see again.

_New York_ was assigned to head out for a five year deep space exploration mission, one of the first since the Dominion war. She had been halfway to DS9 to take the wormhole to the Delta quadrant when her second officer had been recalled to Starfleet Command under a cloud of suspicion. As the nearest ship in the area, Constitution had been ordered to detour from her farewell cruise to relieve New York of her prisoner, and deliver their new second officer along with his daughter so that their mission of exploration would not be delayed.

* * *

"Constitution to New York, two to beam out, prepare to receive." came the word from Constitution's transporter officer.

Shortly afterward, Lt. Commander Richard Castle coalesced into being on the transporter pad, with his daughter Alexis standing close behind him. As soon as the transporter effect released them, Castle looked at the statuesque woman next to the transporter chief, her chestnut hair gathered in a neat braid wearing security gold with a phaser at her hip.

"Permission to come aboard, Lieutenant." Castle asked without preamble.

"Permission granted, Commander, welcome aboard." replied Lt. Kate Beckett. "Please step to one side, sir we have a prisoner transfer as well."

When Castle stepped to the other side of the transporter console, noting that the woman placed _herself_ between them and the door, the prisoner was lead out in handcuffs, a security officer on either side of him phasers in hand, they were obviously taking no chances.

The man looked the Lieutenant directly in the eye, it was clear to Castle that they had been more than just shipmates once.

"Kate, please, this isn't what you think... I can explain." he said, his voice pleading, a plea Castle could see did not make it to his eyes. Just as a precaution, Castle removed a type I phaser from the locker next to him and pushed Alexis behind him.

"Explain it to a jury Will, I caught you red handed." Kate choked out, the pain in her voice not quite as absent as she wanted to believe. The betrayal in her eyes open for anyone who was observant about such things to see. Once Sorenson was manhandled onto the pad, the _New York's_ transporter chief, opened the channel, her small, nimble fingers dancing on the controls.

"New York to Constitution, one prisoner to beam out, prepare for transport." she said crisply in a very mild Irish accent, which sounded only a little odd to Castle given her very Asian features.

"This is Constitution," came the swift reply, "security is on-site, one to beam directly to the brig, _New York, _energize."

The chief ran her slender index finger up the control panel with practiced ease and the transporter effect hummed, removing Commander William Sorenson from view before he could say anything more. Now that the potential threat to his daughter was gone, and Castle had returned the phaser to the locker, he once again turned his eye to the woman before him. Now that he was really looking he could clearly see on her finger where an engagement ring had once been.

Under normal circumstances, Castle's curiosity would have run rampant, peppering the security chief with a hundred questions, many of them rather personal and wildly inappropriate given they didn't know each other, but this was the first time he had been assigned to a Federation Starship since the battle of Wolf 359 and his heart just wasn't in it yet.

He needed to get Alexis to their quarters, get her started unpacking and then report to the captain. Alexis' therapist had told him she needed to face her fears and regardless of how much he loved exploration, he would have been content to concentrate on his writing and never set foot on a starship again. She had watched her mother get spaced just before the emergency fields came on line in their quarters and she was still learning to deal with it. So was he. He was sure they would both be getting to know Dr. Parish, the ship's counselor very well.

As second officer he would be working closely with this woman, he figured eventually she might open up to him. Though he talked a good game otherwise, his daughter could attest to the fact that he was a very good listener. Soon Kate's well being, along with the crew of this ship, would be one of his primary responsibilities.

He wasn't ready for anything romantic yet either, but she looked like she could use a friend. He was good for that.

He could use one too.

* * *

_****Author's Note** Because I love Star Wars and Star Trek equally, I could not, in all fairness, NOT do a Star Trek crossover too. It was just too tempting.**_


	14. Tough Love

**Tough Love**

* * *

The shooter trained his rifle downrange at the speaker at the platform, the cross-hairs of his scope trained center mass on the young looking woman in NYPD dress blues at the podium. He had made full use of his disguise as a groundskeeper (currently sleeping off a mild sedative in the back of his own van) to plant a bug so he could listen in.

* * *

"Roy Montgomery taught me what it meant to be a cop." The woman said with a tightness in her throat that he could understand, he was aware of the history of the man in the flag draped coffin. He'd insisted that Senator Bracken provide him with a full dossier on his target and anyone peripherally involved.

"He taught me that we are bound by our choices, but we are more than our mistakes. Captain Montgomery once said to me that for us, there is no victory. There are only battles."

* * *

He watched as Detective Beckett went on, it was clear that she relaxed more as she went on, a subtle shift in her mannerisms a trained operator like himself could read plainly. He could tell when her eulogy began to stray from being strictly about her dead captain, by the way her eyes strayed from the assembled mourners to Richard Castle off to her right.

He'd done his own recon on the target, and had delivered his assessment to the senator. Though she was currently dating a trauma surgeon at Presbyterian Hospital, it was readily apparent that she was in love with the writer. If he shot her and only wounded her, putting her out of action for months while she recovered, she would come back to work and never back off, especially if she perceived that only her own life was at stake.

If he killed her outright, Bracken would inherit an entirely different set of problems, namely Richard Castle. Though Bracken discounted the writer out of hand, he pointed out that the man had discovered evidence Bracken thought long buried within weeks of first meeting the detective that eventually led Beckett to Dick Coonan. He'd recently even taken down Bracken's previous wet-work man Lockwood with his bare hands. His celebrity status made him virtually untouchable, and his connections would almost guarantee Bracken a very short lived political career. It took very little persuasion after that before the senator finally saw the virtue of doing things his way.

* * *

"And in the end, the best you can hope for is to find a place to make your stand. And if you're very lucky, you find someone to stand with you." Kate continued.

It became more clear exactly whom she was actually speaking about when the detective cast her glance more meaningfully in Mr. Castle's direction. He let the two of them have her moment and then trained his rifle on his target and began to breathe slowly in and out, preparing to fire.

"Our Captain would want us to carry on the fight. And even if there is …"

He released his breath and slowly squeezed the trigger.

* * *

Castle caught the glint in the distance just a half second too late to react, he would later recall never hearing the shot as it struck him near his shoulder. The report of the rifle coming at nearly the same instant the bullet struck him.

"Castle!" Kate cried out as he spun around and toppled over like a marionette with its strings cut. She was on him almost instantly, dragging him behind the podium.

Alexis was screaming, struggling in Ryan's grip, but the Irish cop's wiry strength held her fast, keeping her in his tight grip as Lanie and Esposito crawled out toward Castle and Beckett, the Latino detective shielding Lanie with his own body using the grave markers to cover their movements.

"Castle!" Kate cried out again, leaning over him using the podium as cover. "Please... don't go... please don't leave me."

"Kate... I love you...I love you Kate..." he told her in a harsh whisper before the darkness claimed him and Esposito dragged her away so Lanie could work on him until the ambulance could arrive.

* * *

The shooter, known to Senator Bracken only as Anderson Cross, assassin for hire lowered his rifle after examining his handiwork. Guilt fell across him like a heavy blanket as he wiped the rifle clean with rubbing alcohol, then planting the DNA of another assassin, Cole Maddox on the stock to throw suspicion off. Maddox's wasn't in the system either, but the man had definite ties to Bracken.

Shooting his own son was not something he had ever thought he'd have to do, even though he knew the shot was a clean through and through. If it kept them both alive until their business with the corrupt senator was finished, so be it. Right now, the CIA needed him in their pocket and he'd had a job to do.

He'd send the photos of Martha and Alexis at the funeral to the detective to "persuade" her it was in everyone's best interests to let sleeping dogs lie. He certainly hoped that would be enough, at least in the short term. If Bracken ever hired him, or someone else, to follow through on that threat, however, it would be his last act among the living. He'd do the job himself, up close and personal.

Until then, it was time to use one of his newer identities to board a flight to DC and report in to the Senator.

Jackson Hunt had a certain ring to it.

* * *

_****Author's Note** This story jammed its way into my brain and wouldn't let go. Please don't hate me.**_


	15. Tough Love Part II

**Tough Love  
Pt. 2**

"_Castle!" Kate cried out again, leaning over him using the podium as cover. "Please don't go... please don't leave me." _

"_Kate... I love you...I love you Kate..." he told her in a harsh whisper before the darkness claimed him and Esposito dragged her away so Lanie could work on him until the ambulance could arrive._

* * *

Kate was in hell as she sat in the waiting room, her legs drawn up to her chest as she watched the door leading out into the corridor.

The ride to Presbyterian Hospital had been a blur as she sat on the bench, her eyes wide as saucers watching helplessly as Lanie worked on him trying to stay ahead of the bleeding. Castle's body just out of her reach, close enough that she could see, but in her heart he seemed miles away.

"_Don't you do it Castle," _Lanie had shouted again and again as she worked on him._ "Don't you dare die on me!"_

There was so much blood. She was used to crime scenes being bloody, but she had never seen so much fresh blood, the idea that it had come from a man who had professed his love to her only a few scant minutes ago. The last words he'd said before he faded, before the lights went out.

The thought that she might lose him forever twisted her heart in knots.

She'd suspected the truth when he'd kissed her in that alley a few weeks ago to distract the guard, and again a short time later when he'd attacked Hal Lockwood with his bare hands and beaten him to a pulp. Then again when they'd been sequestered together in that radiation tent, when she'd told him about her reservations about Josh and again in the freezer when he'd held her as she faded and she'd almost told him she loved him.

Castle had looked at her with such undisguised adoration after he'd pulled the wires on that bomb, and then seemed so heartbroken when she'd ended up in Josh's arms instead. She knew she should have ended things with Josh after that, not let him take her home and make love to her when she knew in her heart that it was Castle she really wanted, that he always had been.

She'd been afraid to let Castle all the way in, because she would never be able to put one foot out the door with him. He wouldn't settle for anything less than all of her, not the pieces of herself she had given to first Tom and now Josh since the writer had walked into her life.

She'd pushed Castle away, held him at arm's length, used any excuse she could think of not to let him past her defenses. Because his words had been the ones to save her after he mother died and she knew he had the power to crush her for good if she let him and she couldn't bear let herself be hurt like that again.

Only he'd done it anyway.

He'd taken that bullet she was certain was meant for her. The bullet with her name on it she'd known would be coming for her after Captain Montgomery had revealed his own betrayal of her trust and then died for her in that hangar to balance the scales.

They were supposed to be coming for her, not Castle. She was the one who would not surrender in her decade-long quest for justice for her mom. If somebody was supposed to die, she had long accepted the possibility that it would be her.

She rose to her feet by reflex when the door opened without looking up to see who it was, only to find herself wrapped in a tight embrace she found familiar and yet foreign at the same time.

"God, Kate, I'm glad you're okay!" Josh exclaimed, as she stiffened in his arms, "I'd heard there was a shooting at the funeral, but I didn't know who it was. I thought it was you, that the writer monkey who tags along with you had finally..."

"How dare you!" Kate shouted, pushing him back away from her, rage flashing in her eyes at his insensitivity.

"What?" he began, "I knew something like this would happen. He dug into your mother's case, got you all worked up about it when you'd finally put it behind you. I knew if he kept following you around he'd get you or somebody else killed!"

"Castle is in there with a bullet in his chest!" Kate screamed at him, " A bullet that was meant for me!"

Neither of them had realized they had roused Alexis from where she lay curled on a couch, her head on Martha's lap where she'd cried herself to sleep not half an hour before. She rose from her vigil to the sound of shouting voices, only one of whom she recognized.

"Serves him right for putting his nose in where it doesn't belong!" Josh shouted back.

"My father did _NOT_ deserve to be shot you son of a bitch!" Alexis screamed at the top of her lungs and slapped him full across the face before she knew what she was doing.

Josh pushed Alexis backward, only meaning to get the angry redhead out of arm's reach of his face before she could hit him again. He hadn't accounted for how unsteady the girl was on her feet, however and sent her sprawling backwards onto the floor. That got Jim Beckett's attention, who shot to his feet, but Kate was on Josh before anyone else in the room could react.

"Get out Josh!" she shouted loud enough for the whole room to hear. "Get out and don't come back!"

"Kate..." Josh stammered, he hadn't meant to push the girl that hard, "Kate I didn't mean..."

"I don't know what you _thought_ you were here for, but we are over! I never want to see you again! Get out!"

When Kate turned her back to him and knelt to help Alexis up and guide her back to the chairs, Josh reached out for Kate's shoulder to turn her around, but was met with the unyielding form of Kate's father instead. His gaze was unwavering as he stared Kate's _very_ former boyfriend down.

"Katie said to get out and she meant it, Dr. Davidson." Jim growled, his tone low, dangerous and thick with menace, "Walk away, right now. I won't have you in here acting like a three year old while that girl's father fights for his life!"

"Fine." Josh said before he turned and left, "I hope you're happy Kate, but when he breaks your heart, don't come crying to me."

No sooner was Josh gone and the doors had ceased to swing, Castle's surgeon emerged to give them the good news. Castle's wound was not life threatening. The bullet had gone clean through without doing major damage other than blood loss from the nicked vein, and minor muscular damage. With bed-rest followed by physical therapy he should make a full recovery.

Kate had never been so relieved about anything in her entire life.

Ten minutes later, Martha and Alexis were ushered out to look in on Rick in recovery while a room was prepared for him, her father kissed her on the cheek and told her to try to get some rest before he too headed out to go home.

As Kate turned on her heel to join Alexis and Martha, a bike messenger appeared in the door to the waiting room with a package for her to sign for. It contained only a single photo of Rick, Alexis and Martha getting out of the limo for Montgomery's funeral.

On the back was written in neat block script:

**Mr. Castle was shot in front of a hundred cops and nobody saw a thing. Come after me ever again and I will make you watch them all die, starting with the girl. Their lives are now in your hands. Distancing yourself from them will not save them, only compliance. **

**This is the only warning you will receive.**

* * *

_****Author's note** Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnnn!**_


	16. Tough Love Part III

**Tough Love  
Part III**

* * *

_Mr. Castle was shot in front of a hundred cops and nobody saw a thing. Come after me ever again and I will make you watch them all die, starting with the girl. Their lives are now in your hands. Distancing yourself from them will not save them, only compliance. _

_This is the only warning you will receive._

* * *

Kate ran into the bathroom, fell to her knees and emptied the contents of her stomach violently into the toilet. _Castle and his family are in danger, because of me. _Kate thought to herself, _He'd seen what we might be up against, but I wouldn't listen. He was targeted because of me. Because I couldn't walk away like he'd begged me to._

Kate heaved again into the toilet, bringing up nothing more than stomach acid, then dry heaved twice more before Martha found her.

Kate stiffened at the touch of Martha's hand rubbing her back and smoothing aside her hair.

"I'm so sorry Martha," Kate whispered, her voice choked with emotion, "I did this... I put him in danger. This is all my fault."

"Katherine Beckett, don't you dare blame yourself," Martha hissed sharply, "You are not the one that shot him!"

"No," Kate whispered back, guilt eating her alive, "but I put him in the cross-hairs."

"Katherine," Martha replied wistfully, "as much as I detested your odious ex-boyfriend's overbearing display of testosterone earlier, he was right about _one_ thing. Richard was in those... cross-hairs... you speak of because he _chose_ to be there. And from the look in your eyes I think you know why."

Kate's eyes lowered to the floor, the curtain of her hair hiding her face.

"He told me how he felt," she whispered quietly, "he told me he loved me."

"Then you know why he chose to put himself in danger." Martha replied.

"He has a daughter... I can't let him do that... I can't..." Kate replied, trailing off as a sob burst from her chest. Martha slipped a hand under Kate's chin, lifting her face untill green eyes met blue.

"His eccentricities aside, my son is a grown man and he believes you are worth the risk," Martha whispered, "you have the power to save him, or to destroy him completely. Which will it be, Katherine?"

In that moment, the urge to run was overwhelmingly powerful, run as far away as she could and never look back, but a single phrase told her that wouldn't work. _**Distancing yourself from them will not save them, only compliance.**_

She could run from her feelings, run from the man who loved her with his whole heart, the only man she could truly say held all of hers, crush him completely, chase her tail fruitlessly for years only to know she had condemned him and his entire family to death.

Or she could stay.

Protect the man she loved and his family in the only way she could. Try to make a life for herself as best she could, like her father had always insisted her mom would have really wanted. Johanna Beckett had encoded all of her work notes and files for the Pulgatti appeal for that very reason, so that her family would not become targets by knowing too much.

Kate had put the case away before, she could do so again. For the right reason this time. She knew she had nothing, not even a name, Montgomery had seen to that, made sure all of the records she had access to were sanitized, so there was nothing for her to find and her shooter was in the wind, the chances of finding him just about zero.

Her mother was gone, killed by Dick Coonan.  
Dick Coonan was gone, killed by her own hand.  
Hal Lockwood was gone, killed by Montgomery.  
Montgomery was gone, killed by Lockwood, his secrets taken to the grave.

Everybody was gone.

Everyone but Castle, who'd helped her get closer to the truth than anyone had before. (even though his initial attempt had seemed like a betrayal at the time) He'd found the one piece of information that had sent all of the cover-up's dominoes falling as McCallister had so inelegantly put it.

_Because Montgomery had been hiding the truth from you for years, _an angry voice in her head reminded her.

Castle was the only man in her life - her father included - who had never betrayed or abandoned her. Every time he'd ever walked out or been driven away, he'd always come back. Even after she'd kicked him out of her apartment, the precinct and her life this last time. He had still shown up in that hangar and dragged her kicking and screaming to safety.

The man behind all of this held all of the cards. He was nameless, faceless and could strike from the shadows without warning. He had the resources to hire assassins and snipers and could get to anyone she ever loved or cared about. Checkmate.

Until she had some clue who was behind this, until she knew whom she was facing, she had no chance.

One day she would get justice for her mother, but that day was not today. The price for even trying was simply too high.

Martha's cell phone pinged with a text, which she opened clumsily. When she snapped it closed and turned back to Kate she offered the detective her hand.

"Come on kiddo," she whispered, her expression withdrawn, "That was Alexis, he's awake and shouting for you. He won't let anyone near him until he knows you're okay."

Kate took Martha's hand, allowing Castle's mother to help her up.

"Thank you, Martha," Kate whispered, sounding like a lost little girl.

"Of course, my dear." Martha replied, as hand in hand they struck off for the recovery room to calm the fears of her wounded son.

"Always."

* * *

_****Because I don't think I've buried you in feels quite enough today, thought I'd add this bit. It was originally going to be part of Part II but I thought it deserved its own chapter.**_


	17. Once More In the Belly of the Beast

**Once More In the Belly of the Beast**

* * *

"_... A Jedi's strength flows from the Force.  
But beware of the dark side.  
Anger, fear, aggression;  
the dark side of the Force are they.  
Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight.  
Once start you down the dark path,  
forever will it dominate your destiny,  
consume you it will..."_

From the teachings of Jedi Master Yoda

* * *

Kate Beckett lay crumpled in what could only be called a cell.

Other than the black-cushioned cot – which provided little in the way of actual comfort - that seemed to grow out of the wall, the room was white and sterile.

Everything hurt, every every muscle and synapse in her body ached with the aftershocks of nearly an hour of mind-numbing excruciating pain, the likes of which she had never felt before. She thought the torment dished out by Vulcan Simmons had been the worst she ever endured, but it paled in comparison to that dished out by her current captor. Unlike Simmons, she never asked any questions, in fact she never spoke a word to her directly. Nor did her men each time they entered her cell, dragged her to the torture chamber and the unrelenting, unwavering pain cascading though nearly every nerve ending in her body began anew.

Kate's body was not her own during those sessions, every muscle twitched and jumped and she'd screamed so loudly that her throat had grown raw from it. When her captor was done with her, she was dragged back to her cell, a quivering, twitching, barely conscious wreck.

Kate wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd stormed from the loft. She'd been so angry when Castle had told her the truth. Told her that he was not really Richard Castle, that he and Alexis were not from this part of the galaxy. She thought he'd been playing one of his practical jokes until he'd shown her the ship, the records, everything.

He told her his real name, that the real Richard Castle, his mother and infant daughter had been dead since 1994. That they were buried under the name Rodgers in the same cemetery where her mother lay. That he'd taken over their lives with the assistance of the real Castle's father in exchange for helping him bring their killers to justice.

She'd done the only thing she could think to do that night after her anger had manifested itself. She'd dropped her engagement ring at his feet, called him every nasty name she could think of and fled into the night. She never made it back to her apartment, barely cleared three blocks before everything went blank. She'd woken in this cell and the nearly daily torture had begun shortly thereafter, swiftly becoming her only concept of time.

The cell had no windows, the light within and without never varied, nor did the corridors she was dragged kicking and screaming through bear any distinguishing features. The guards all were of uniform height wearing the same gleaming white and black armor, faces obscured by helmets, their voices the same when they spoke to her, which was rare.

Kate's only oasis from her torment, a hallucination that appeared to her after she was dumped quivering and boneless back into her cell when her tormentor was finished with her. The translucent, barely perceptible form of a woman tinged in blue, radiating strength, peace and comfort through Kate's very pores, easing her pain as though by magic. Brushing her hair from her face and singing softly in a language she neither understood nor recognized.

Her mind drifted to the man she knew or thought she did. It was the only means she could think of to stay sane, the only thing she had to keep her mind sharp while she waited for the guards to come for her again, drag her before the woman who watched with rapt fascination every time her men affixed her to that machine and tore the screams from her lungs.

Kate tracked in her mind where the shift in Richard Castle's novels had taken place, when the wild romps of spies and private investigators gave way to main characters who strove for justice and the theme of the books she truly cherished had taken form. The books that had changed her life and saved her from the depression that claimed her after her mother's death. She was certain it had indeed taken place after _Hell Hath No Fury_.

She thought back to his hunches that defied logic, the ones that turned her away from an innocent and onto the trail of the guilty. The interrogations he sat in on with her when the most defiant of suspects or witnesses suddenly changed course and cooperated. Castle had always been quick to give her the credit for "breaking" them, or for her desire for justice, not revenge, but something about his voice had sounded different in those times, almost hypnotic.

The stories that drew not only herself, but the entire team - Montgomery included - into the picture he was trying to create. Even those that seemed irrelevant at the time had centered them. Brought them back on task, filled them with resolve.

His declaration of love when she lay bleeding on the grass and her miraculous recovery from a bullet wound that should have either killed her outright or broken her beyond physical repair – a recovery she had attributed to Josh Davidson's surgical skill at the time. But now it was apparent that he had done something that day as the world faded to black, his voice in her head telling her to hold on. A quiet voice in the back of her mind that had guided her through her recovery, even after she'd run away to her father's cabin.

Kate heard footsteps approaching the door to her cell, her body jerked in spite of her attempt at control as she coiled herself in the corner of the cot. She fought them with every fiber of her being every time they came for her, kicked and clawed at them the whole way to the interrogation room, but there were always too many and the fight in her was slowly waning along with her physical strength.

A voice in her mind screamed _It's too soon! _over and over in her head as the footsteps grew closer, she had only been brought back a little while ago until she heard an unfamiliar repetitive humming and the unmistakable sound of a body thumping into her cell door.

It slid open and one of her armored guards fell backwards into the cell, a cauterized stump where his helmeted head should have been, followed shortly thereafter by a hooded, indistinct figure only a little shorter than herself.

"Aren't you a little short to be one of my guards." Kate hissed at her.

Alexis Castle slid the hood from her head, the tight braid that Kate had seen draped over the girl's collarbone for as long as she'd known her was gone, but otherwise, this was Castle's daughter, or whatever her real name was.

"Detective Beckett, I'm here to rescue you." She whispered, tossing one of the guard's weapons to her, along with her boots and a bag containing her mother's ring and her father's watch which her captors had taken from her.

"What about your father?" Kate whispered more harshly than she'd intended, the hurt from his revelation still a violent angry thing "He is _really_ your father, isn't he?"

"Yes he is," Alexis replied tersely, her control slipping for just a moment, revealing more of the hurt behind her eyes than she'd intended. _I am doing my duty as a Jedi Knight, nothing more. _She thought to herself chanting the mantra her father had instilled in her since before she was old enough to understand. _A Jedi's power flows from the living Force only when they are at peace._ A_nger, fear and aggression are the tools of the dark side. _

She'd been chanting Master Yoda's edicts on the force a lot during the past three weeks since Kate had thrown her engagement ring in her father's face, shouted all manner of angry hurtful things at him and fled. Her father's tortured force visions had begun shortly after. Dreams she felt radiating from him through the force as keenly as if she'd had them herself. Dreams she bitterly held Kate Beckett accountable for, even though she knew Kate's reaction had not been completely unanticipated when her father had confessed his sins to her. That Kate would come back when she was ready.

Intervention by an agent of the Dark Side, had not been foreseen, however. The dark side clouded everything.

"He doesn't know I'm here." Alexis stated, answering the unasked question in Kate's eyes as she slipped on her boots. "He released me as his Padawan and plans to sacrifice himself to secure your freedom."

Kate was shocked. After everything she'd said, after everything she'd done, he was still trying to save her. Even though she'd sworn to never speak to him again, he was willing to offer up his life for hers.

"What will happen to him?" Kate asked.

"If he's cooperative, the Emperor's agent will return him to Coruscant where he will be publicly executed." Alexis stated, her voice even, drawing a gasp from Kate that sounded more like a choking sob then she'd intended.

"And if he..." Kate choked out, her anger with Castle having dissolved during her captivity, "if he isn't cooperative?"

"They will execute him on the spot." Alexis said, her voice devoid of inflection, "General Order 66 was quite specific in its intent."

Kate finished putting on her boots, slipped on her father's watch, her mother's ring and took up the weapon Alexis had provided, relieving her dead guard of his weapon and gun-belt as well.

She turned back at Alexis' confused expression and said,

"You coming, Castle?"

* * *

Two squads of Stormtroopers marched Ri Quan Castillion in chains onto the bridge to stand before Valesim Marwear, Emperor's Hand. The lead trooper of the column approached her raised platform and handed her his lightsaber.

"He was armed only with this, my lady." The lead trooper reported. She didn't know his name, she knew none of their names, nor did she care to. They were tools to her, extensions of her will and nothing more. Useful only for one purpose as far as she was concerned.

"He surrendered without incident?" Valesim asked.

"Yes, my lady," he confirmed.

She was certain Master Castillion would try to use his Jedi powers on at least one of them to gain some advantage. It would have been a fruitless exercise, of course, she had dominated the minds of these troopers over the last fifteen years. They may have once been part of Lord Vader's 501st Legion - each of whom, she was certain Vader had found lacking in some way - but they were now completely hers to command. They had become slaves to her will as thoroughly as the Venator Class Star Destroyer she commanded was slaved to central computer on the bridge.

One day Lord Vader would outlive his usefulness to the empire, and the Lord Sidious would need a new apprentice. Only through victory would she be able to claim the title of Sith for herself.

"Welcome to the _Vigilance_, Master Castillion." She stated with condescending noblesse oblige, complete with a half bow that was more contemptuous than regal.

"Have your men continue to search for the padawan," she ordered the troopers, "Castillion escaped the Jedi Temple with a force sensitive infant, by now she'd be old enough for the trials."

"At once, my lady," the commander of her troopers replied and marched out to relay her orders.

The doors had no sooner closed on the troopers when Castillion's eyes drifted closed and an alarm klaxon began to wail.

"Prisoner escape in cell block AA23!" the single deck officer reported.

"Send all available Stormtroopers to the detention block," Valesim commanded. "Bring me the Padawan alive if possible. The primitive woman has served her purpose, kill her on sight."

No sooner had she finished the command, the chains binding Ri Quan Castillion dropped away and his lightsaber flew across the room. The snap-hiss of its activation echoed on the bridge just before it landed in his outstretched hand.

Her guards were dead before Valesim could react or draw her own weapon as the trap she'd thought she'd sprung swung back upon her.

The long haft of her own lightsaber appeared in her hands, its two crimson blades extending from either end.

She started the blades spinning and sprang into battle, calling upon the dark side of the force...

The battle was joined...

* * *

_****Author's note** I go back to work on Aug 30th so I'm kinda clearing the deck, writing wise before I start levering my way back into doing "Richard Rodgers, Cyborg". (please refrain from pestering me about it if you review, I'm working my way up to it, honest) I tend to do my best work on that story as a steam valve from my job, so you'll get better chapters after I go back.**_

_**Yes I know... I'm leaving a cliffhanger here. I'm not particularly wild about them, but this will leave me time to work up a nice action scene for the next one. Something for me to play with during my last week of freedom before work drags me back under.**_

_**On a side note: Yes I know most Star Wars extended universe fans think Mara Jade when they hear "Emperor's Hand", but there were several, and all of them believed they were the only one. Palpatine certainly knew how to make his agents feel special, eh? **_

_**More to come.**_


	18. Heat Incommunicado pt 1

**Heat Incommunicado**

"Goodbye, Nikki." said the heavily modulated voice over Castle's phone.

"Kate!" Castle shouted just as an explosion sent Castle sprawling to the pavement and gouts of flame spurted through the third floor window where he knew Kate's apartment to be. The bottom dropped out of his world as the horror of what he saw overtook him.

Castle battled through the other tenants fleeing the building, taking the stairs to her floor two at a time until he cleared the landing and sprinted for her door.

"Kate, are you in there?!" He shouted, pounding on her door, which was still hot to the touch, "KATE!"

When she didn't answer, Castle took two steps back and shouldered into her door, sending it crashing into the floor, with him on top of it

"Ow Ow!" he exclaimed as he scrambled to his feet. "Kate?" he'd only been to her place the night before, but the living area of her apartment had been reduced to a smoldering alien landscape by the incendiary device.

Though thankfully most of the fire had been blown out the window by the pressure wave of the explosion, he was aware from his extensive research that it was only a matter of time before - like the window sills - the rest of the wooden furnishings reached flash-over and the room would soon be fully involved again.

"Kate!"

This time after calling her name, he heard weak coughing from the direction of a door blown off it's hinges, that he recalled led to Kate's bathroom. He'd found it by chance that morning when the two glasses of wine he'd had the night before caught up to him and he'd had to pee.

"Kate?" He shouted into the bathroom as he yanked the door away from the cast iron bathtub

"You're alive!" he exclaimed, before his eyes fully took in the very naked expanse of her back "Whoa. And you're naked."

They had a brief back and forth, during which they came to the realization there was nothing in her bathroom with which she would be able to safely cover herself, and he'd been careful not to look as she shrugged into his jacket and belted it closed around her. He helped her climb out of the tub and she gripped his arm tightly with a wince of pain as he set her on her feet, clearly having turned an ankle in her dash for the tub.

"Can you walk?" He asked haltingly, as she grabbed him more tightly to remain on her feet.

"Ugh. Yeah," Kate replied, trying hard to maintain her composure, "just… a little banged up."

"Okay. Come on. Nice and easy." He whispered, more relieved that she was alive than he was able to express. His own guilt for putting her in this guy's sights with his book and that damned Cosmo article eating him alive.

He was sure as he helped her from the bathroom that she was about to make a pithy remark in the vein of their usual banter, but all that escaped her lips was a low squeak before her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she lost consciousness.

"Kate!" he husked, as she went limp in his arms, thankfully still breathing.

Without a second though he swept his free arm under her knees and carried her from her once more burning apartment and down three flights of stairs to the welcome sight of the NYFD and a waiting ambulance. His face twisted in an expression of absolute devastation. He didn't even notice the camera flashes and lights from the news cameras as he carried her to the waiting paramedics looking like his world was over.

* * *

Special Agent Jordan Shaw carefully navigated the press and emergency vehicles, a small carry-on bag under one arm, until she found Richard Castle standing outside an ambulance, his face drawn in a frown as she showed her credentials to the guard at the door opened it and climbed inside.

"Beckett? How you doing?" she asked, handing the detective the bag, which contained her emergency set of clothes she kept for circumstances much like this one.

"I'm fine." Kate replied, accepting the bag with a small quirk of her lips.

"What'd you see when you got home?" Shaw asked, getting right to business as Kate tugged the yoga pants up her legs, turned her back to the agent, shrugged out of Castle's jacket and slipped the slightly over sized FBI sweatshirt over her head, careful of the stitches at her hairline and the bandage on her wrist.

"The, uh, the doors were locked like I left them," Kate began with a stuttering breath, "the windows were shut and… I don't know. Nothing seemed out of place. But I don't know, you know, 'cause I thought the case was done."

"It's not, detective, but you are." Shaw stated without preamble.

"What?" Kate asked incredulously shrugging the FBI windbreaker on.

"Effective immediately, you're benched 'til we find the right guy." Shaw explained.

"Wait," Kate exploded, "This is my apartment. Okay? My life and my case."

"Not any more." Shaw replied. "I've already announced to the press that you survived the explosion, but in spite of Mr. Castle's heroic efforts, you were pronounced dead at the scene. Until we can track down the real guy, You'll be cooling your heels in a safe house, along with anyone else who knows you're not dead. Including Mr. Castle."

"But..." Kate stuttered, trapped between anger and confusion, "But.."

Shaw cracked the door to the ambulance open and waved Castle inside now that Kate was fully dressed. Not giving her an opening to argue.

"I've already cleared it with your captain, he vouched for your team, who will be brought into the fold once I've finished vetting and briefing them. It's just a matter of setting you up in a safe house."

"I don't want to be holed up in a damned safe house!" Kate snapped, "I want to be out there hunting down this son of a bitch!"

"You'll either cooperate and go to a safe house while I do my job," Shaw interrupted with steel in her voice, "or you'll spend it cooling your heels in a cell as a federal material witness, your choice."

Shaw and Kate glared at each other, but the agent did not give an inch as she stared Beckett down. As indomitable as Kate Beckett's will was, even she knew when she was outmaneuvered. It was either this, or wait helplessly as their killer claimed more victims, murdered more innocent people in a sick bid get one over on her. But for Castle's quick thinking, he just may have succeeded.

"I have a pretty good place, Agent Shaw, two to be honest." Castle stated, after the ambulance door slammed shut, "I live in a secured building and an extra bedroom, not to mention people who care about her. If you put a federal detail at the door. It'll be the safest place in the city. If you need us to move, I have a place in the Hamptons. The fewer people who know about Kate, the better security will be.

"Thank you, Castle, but I couldn't..." Kate interjected.

"You can and you will," Castle cut in, his eyes alight with concern.

"Consider it done," Agent Shaw replied, not giving Kate any opportunity to argue. "I'll coordinate with your captain and get the detail set up. It's a done deal. Time to play dead, Detective. It's been my experience that when a serial killer's pattern gets disrupted it makes them more dangerous, not less. If he thinks he's succeeded he might get careless and make a mistake. When he does I'll come down on him like the wrath of God."

"What about my dad?" Kate grumbled sullenly, "he's a recovering alcoholic, he took it badly when my mom died, this would kill him."

"I sent an agent to his residence before making the announcement, Detective." Agent Shaw replied, "he'll be brought into the loop. Once the crime scene techs are done with your apartment, I'll clear the place and have you and Mr. Castle escorted inside to collect whatever you can salvage of your things."

"Okay," Kate replied, her head bowed, clearly unhappy with having the rug yanked out from under her, but her outburst earlier had sapped what little remained of her reserves. Between the blow to her head, minor smoke inhalation, she was feeling too lightheaded to offer any further argument. The FBI medic who'd been watching her like a hawk slipped an oxygen mask over her face, admonishing her to breathe deeply.

"Detective is there someplace your father can stay that's off the grid?" Shaw asked.

"Yeah," Kate replied, "the family cabin in the Adirondacks."

"Okay," Agent Shaw stated, "I doubt he's in any danger, but I'll have him sent up there with a small detail to keep an eye out for him. I'll get started on the crime scene and let you know when you can come up. Until then, the ambulance will go to Presbyterian where you will be transferred to a suburban and brought back incommunicado."

Agent Shaw turned and stepped toward the side door of the ambulance, but turned back suddenly to offer, "I am glad you made it out alive, Beckett and I intend to keep you that way. Don't worry, I'm gonna get this bastard and nail his ass to the wall. Until then, enjoy a nice vacation courtesy of the FBI."

After Shaw slammed the door closed behind her, Castle sat next to Kate to offer a shoulder for her to lean on while they waited and it was not lost on him when she reached down and placed her hand over his. Without a second thought, he flipped his and laced his fingers with hers as she closed her eyes and breathed out a sigh of resignation. The lower half of her right leg throbbed with a dull pain from her knee down to her ankle, where she was sure she had twisted it jumping into her tub and she was grateful for the solid wall of her partner to hold her bruised and battered body steady.

"Thank you Castle," Kate whispered through the oxygen mask, "for getting me out of there."

"Always," Castle replied.

Kate's energy waned after that and she dropped her head onto Castle's shoulder while they waited in companionable silence. Though she never would have admitted it to him last night, or even a few hours ago, but his presence made her feel safe.

* * *

Two hours later, they had been cleared to return to her apartment building after the crowd had been dispersed. Until the last unaccounted for person had been sent packing, they couldn't be sure if the killer was in the crowd. At Castle's whispered suggestion, Shaw's people had photographed the crowd to be sure. But by the time their nondescript black suburban rolled to a stop outside the deserted front door to Kate's apartment building, all was quiet.

Kate stepped out of the SUV wearing an FBI windbreaker and a matching cap, with a pair of sunglasses obscuring her eyes and her hair pushed up underneath looking smaller in the running shoes that Castle had liberated from her cruiser while he'd been waiting outside the ambulance earlier.

She was choked up to see the charred remains of her living room. Almost nothing had been spared from the flames. Kate knelt by her charred desk sifting through the shattered remains of her jewelry box before scooping up the chain with her mother's ring, holding it close to her chest, her eyes scanning the room, but she didn't see the other piece of jewelry that was close to her heart.

"Did anybody find my father's watch?" she called out, her voice choked with emotion at the thought of its loss.

"It's not in the hall." Castle said, his heart breaking at the desolation on Kate's face, burdened by the half-truth he was telling. His coat pocket felt heavy with the weight of her father's broken watch - which his eyes had fallen upon as soon as he'd entered - its face cracked, hands stopped at the instant of the explosion that had almost taken Kate's life. He was consoled only by the prospect of dropping it off with his jeweler, so he could give it back to her as good as new. In his heart he knew that finding it broken would somehow be worse for her than not finding it at all.

"The damage wasn't as bad in your bedroom," Shaw told her, "but your clothes that aren't water damaged all smell like smoke and explosive residue."

Kate locked her tired eyes on Castle, trying to shrug off the feeling of violation clawing in her belly that the killer had been in her home, her sanctum. That she'd nearly died in the very spot where her partner now stood. _Goodbye, Nikki._

"Does insurance pays for dry cleaning?" She asked, hoping her tone concealed her feelings of violation, not to mention how vulnerable she felt without her talisman for the life she'd saved. Without her father's watch, her mother's ring felt heavier somehow.

Castle did his best to throw a smirk her way at her attempt at humor, but it did little to lighten the mood for either of them as her left her to dig out a suitcase and throw what was left of her wardrobe and lingerie drawer into it, then another for her shoes. Normally he would have a pithy comment to make about her being bashful about him seeing her choice of underwear, but he had too much on his mind.

The idea of Kate Beckett taking up residence at the loft had been the subject of Castle's dreams and fantasies for the better part of a year, but he found himself unprepared for the reality of her actually taking up residence in the loft, especially not under these circumstances.

Though it ran counter to the side of him Castle knew she was used to, he knew he would have to tread lightly. He kept his face a careful mask of joviality, but inside his guilt and anger warred with each other for dominance, leaving his own emotions almost as much of a churning mess as he was sure Kate's were behind the front he knew she had to be putting up. He'd seen her in the ambulance after Agent Shaw had lowered the boom on her.

_That bastard fixated on Kate and tried to kill her...because of me. _He thought to himself, as a wave of protectiveness boiled up from deep in his psyche, one that had heretofore been reserved only for Alexis. He was aware that Kate saw him as a nine year old on a sugar rush, someone who didn't take things seriously. He was certain that was why she kept him at a distance, why she trusted him only so far with her world, despite her reassurances to him after killing Coonan.

_This guy comes after Kate again, _he thought darkly, _I guarantee she'll see something new._

If this guy wanted another shot at Kate, the bastard would have to go through him. Until then, her would do what he could to help Kate pick up what was left of her life and move on.

"Come on Kate, Casa Castle awaits," He muttered, summoning up his best book signing smile as he took possession of the heaviest of her suitcases, "let's go home."

* * *

_****Author's Note** I put this prompt up on Tumblr and also personally gave it to a few select people directly. Just because I decided to play with it a bit myself, I certainly hope that does not dissuade anyone from taking a shot at it. I would love to see anyone who likes the idea to take a stab at it. I look forward to seeing other takes on it. I will add to it as circumstances allow**_

_**The Prompt: AU for Ep 2x18: Boom. Castle saves Beckett from Dunn's bomb, but instead of letting her work the case, Agent Shaw announces Kate's death on the scene and she's not allowed to leave Castle's loft until Dunn is caught. **_


	19. Heat Incommunicado pt 2

**Heat Incommunicado  
Pt. II**

* * *

"_At eight forty-five PM, an incendiary device exploded in the third floor Greenwich Village_ _apartment of NYPD Homicide Detective Katherine Beckett. In spite of valiant efforts by mystery novelist Richard Castle, a civilian consultant with the 12__th__ Precinct - who had been following Detective Beckett as inspiration for his Nikki Heat series of books - she lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at the scene shortly afterward. _

_This firebombing, is currently being investigated as both the premeditated homicide of a New York City police officer and an act of domestic terrorism._

_The FBI extends its condolences to Detective Beckett's family and her co-workers at the NYPD and we request that her family's privacy be respected at this time. Anyone with information that could lead to the apprehension of the person or person's responsible for this reprehensible act is asked to contact either Department of Homeland Security or the FBI at..._"

* * *

Kate turned off the TV and tossed the remote to the other side of the couch. She hated being benched almost as much as she hated the lack of her usual independence. She wanted to be out there pounding the pavement looking - no scratch that - _hunting _for the son of a bitch who murdered three people then tried to blow her up in her apartment.

She'd tried to sneak out of the loft to go rogue that very morning - twice as a matter of fact - and both times she'd barely made it out of the open-plan living room before she was struck by a wave of dizziness. The first time she' dropped right back down onto the couch which had been embarrassing enough, but the second time she'd made it halfway to the door before the dizziness hit and then stepped wrong on her sprained ankle, sending her sprawling to the floor.

Castle had come running at her yelp of pain, noticed her predicament and - to her utter mortification - had swept her off the floor and carried her straight back to the couch in spite of her protests.

She had snapped at him rather harshly after he had gently set her down and re-elevated her sprained ankle. More harshly than the situation required really, and she knew it, given the hurt she'd seen in his eyes that belied the calm, placid front he'd put on to mask it. That same calm mask she'd seen at more than one interrogation when a suspect would leer at her like a piece of meat.

She stopped trying to skip out after that. She felt badly enough for him as it was.

She knew Castle felt responsible for what happened, that he was weighted down with guilt for putting her in the limelight with Heat Wave and attracting this predator to her in the first place. She had tried to reassure him, both when they were working the case and the night night before the explosion when he had showed up at her door to _"protect"_ her with nothing but his body, a bottle of wine and his rapier wit.

Another thing for her to feel guilty about on top of the fact that all of her friends and coworkers thought she was dead. A situation she could not correct without putting all of them - including Castle, Martha, and Alexis - at risk. If anything happened to Castle's family because they were sheltering her from this psychopath, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

Only after she reached this understanding did it occur to her that she had nowhere to go. Their prime suspect was not only dead, but posthumously exonerated due to the attempt on her life. Even if she were still officially among the living, without another suspect she would have nowhere to start.

The logical, rational side of her mind was also quick to remind her that there was a detail of federal agents on site and she was in no condition to either sneak past them or fight her way out, even if she could make the half dozen or so paces to Castle's front door.

Kate sighed, and resigned herself to spending a lot of time on both Castle's couch and his guest room for the time being. Once Agent Shaw cleared Lanie and the boys to know she was still among the living, they could keep her up-to-date on the progress of the Federal investigation.

She only wished Agent Shaw had not deemed it necessary to wait until after her full honors _"funeral"_ for that to happen. She knew it would be hard enough on Castle and her father, and they already knew the truth.

If there was one thing she could count on, however, it was Captain Montgomery. One of his people had been attacked and nearly killed. There was no way in hell he would let Agent Shaw keep him out of the loop once the real investigation began. As stubborn and as dogged as she might be in the pursuit of a case, she had nothing on Roy Montgomery. Mess with one of his and he would chase them to the ends of the earth and come down on them like the wrath of an angry vengeful god.

Roy would do right by her. Until then, Kate knew it would be up to her to keep Castle and his family safe.

If that meant playing along with this charade for the time being, then so be it. But there was no way in hell she was gonna let Agent Shaw keep her from slapping the cuffs on the son of a bitch once she found him.

It was important to her that she be the one to take him in.

* * *

**_**Author's note** It's not as long as I'd hoped, but returning to work has been harder on me physically than I thought it would be and I wanted to have something up in time for #CastleFanficMonday _**

**_Enjoy._**


	20. Don't Mess With Jim

Don't Mess With Jim

* * *

"_You don't tug on Superman's cape  
You don't spit into the wind  
You don't pull the mask off that old Lone Ranger  
And you don't mess around with Jim"  
_Jim Croce: "You Don't Mess Around With Jim"

* * *

August 22nd 2001  
Beckett Family Cabin

Jim Beckett lay on the weight bench, pressing a barbell up and down off his chest that weighed more than his daughter did.

Five reps

Ten

Fifteen.

Twenty.

It had only been a year and a half since Johanna had been killed in that alley, a night poorly recalled it had been effectively dulled by grief and far too much alcohol. Playing the undignified, uncaring drunk hadn't been an act at first, he'd been well on his way to crawling into a bottle and never coming out until his buddy from his Navy Seal days in Vietnam had picked him up off his ass when he'd been thrown out of "The Old Haunt" on one of his less lucid nights. Keeping up that ruse to drive Katie away was the hardest, cruelest thing he had ever done, but where he was going, he could not allow her to follow.

Thirty reps.

Forty.

Since then, his sources told him that Katie had designs on joining the NYPD to look into Johanna's case. He knew there wasn't much to be found there, as a former State Prosecutor he'd been granted access to the files which had clearly either been sanitized, or were incomplete to begin with. No, the guy he was sure was involved would not have left a trail so easy for an _honest_ cop to follow.

After he'd grunted through the fiftieth rep, he started with the heavy bag, working on the fighting techniques he'd been taught before he'd shipped out with SEAL team four to the jungles and rivers of Vietnam. He'd kept himself in shape since turning in his rifle and BDU's for a briefcase and a three piece suit, but it had been decades since he'd been tactical, his battles fought mostly in the courtroom as a New York City prosecuting attorney.

He had met Johanna when they'd faced each other in court and she'd outmaneuvered him into a deal more favorable to her client at the time. They'd met for drinks after and he was hooked on her ever since. After he'd been pushed out the DA's office by that slick weasel William Bracken, they'd formed their own firm, dated, married then a had a child together.

Then came the Joe Pulgotti case. Bracken had been the prosecutor of record and Johanna was certain Pulgotti had been framed the the murders he'd spent a decade in prison for. She'd been itching to take the case apart, find out who really murdered an undercover federal agent... until that cold January night when she'd been found stabbed to death and left propped up on a bag of garbage.

He had since turned the family property in the Adirondacks into a training ground. He ran the trails like aman possesed during the day, stalked them with a rifle like a silent ghost in the middle of the night, swam back and forth across the lake daily, while Katie thought he was in rehab. He hammered the heavy bag with his fists... again and again. Punching and kicking it to work out all of weakness that years of comfortable living had wrought.

He wasn't ready yet, not quite tactical, but he knew he was getting there. Soon enough, he would no longer be Jim Beckett, Attorney at Law, but the weapon he had once been. His old call-sign bubbled up from the depths of his memory _Snake._

An old poem he hadn't thought of since high school bubbled up from his memory;

_Must I at length the Sword of Justice draw?  
Oh curst Effects of necessary Law!  
How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,  
Beware the Fury of a Patient Man. _

James Beckett was a patient man. Whomever had killed his beloved Johanna had left him alive. When the time was right, he would find the bastards responsible and personally make sure they understood the depth of their mistake.

* * *

_****Author's note** A little something AU for those of you jonesing for some Jim Beckett. Yes if you think this sounds like "Without Remorse" by Tom Clancy, you're right!**_


End file.
